Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) today announced data from two Phase 2 studies evaluating investigational all-oral regimens containing the nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir (SOF) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. These data are being presented this week at the 49th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (The International Liver Congress 2014) in London.
The first study, ELECTRON2 (Oral #6), is an ongoing, open-label Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating a once-daily fixed-dose combination of SOF 400 mg and the NS5A inhibitor ledipasvir (LDV) 90 mg, with and without ribavirin (RBV) twice-daily (1,000 or 1,200 mg/day), among HCV-infected patient populations.
In this study, 100 percent>
"The ELECTRON2 data suggest that an all-oral regimen of LDV/SOF plus RBV has the potential to provide high cure rates for genotype 3 patients in just 12 weeks - half the duration of current all-oral treatment regimens," said Professor Edward Gane, MD, Deputy Director and Hepatologist, New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit, Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand, and principal investigator of the ELECTRON2 study. "These results also suggest that LDV/SOF may be an effective treatment regimen for HCV genotype 1-infected patients who have failed a previous sofosbuvir-based regimen and those with advanced liver disease, including decompensated cirrhosis."
A second study, Study GS-US-342-0102 (Oral #111), is an ongoing randomized Phase 2 clinical trial in which treatment-naïve, non-cirrhotic patients with genotypes 1-6 HCV infection received a 12-week course of SOF plus the pan-genotypic NS5A inhibitor GS-5816. Patients received SOF 400 mg and either GS-5816 25 mg>
"The results of this study of sofosbuvir with a new pan-genotype NS5A inhibitor demonstrate the curative potential of this combination," said Gregory T. Everson, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director, Section of Hepatology, University of Colorado, Denver, and principal investigator of Study GS-US-342-0102. "The combination was not only effective across all genotypes and patient subgroups, but also was well tolerated. These results warrant additional study in future trials, with the hope of providing a potent, pan-genotypic combination with few side effects and a high chance for cure."
The most common adverse events occurring in more than 10 percent of patients were fatigue, headache and nausea. There were no treatment discontinuations due to adverse events, and no evidence of treatment-related laboratory abnormalities.