Anyone with Cirrhosis tried Telaprevir, Peginterferon & Ribavirin together?

[Sean718]

Hello everyone! Just came from a doctor's appointment today & I just learned that my grandmother (68yrs old) has genotype 1A. She's recently diagnosed with Cirrhosis stage 3. Today, her gastro doctor advised she take a risk & try the treatment in order to "freeze" the distruction of her liver which may or may not work. I understand Telaprevir was recently introduced so I'm wondering if anyone has tried this alone and/or with other drugs & if so, what were your side effects (please be as specific as possible). Thank you in advance!

[hrsepwrguy]

2.2 VICTRELIS Combination Therapy: Patients with Cirrhosis
Patients with compensated cirrhosis should receive 4 weeks peginterferon alfa and ribavirin followed by 44 weeks VICTRELIS 800 mg (four 200-mg capsules) three times daily (every 7-9 hours) in combination with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin.

http://www.merck.com/product/usa/pi_circulars/v/victrelis/victrelis_pi.pdf

Treatment-naïve patients with cirrhosis who have undetectable HCV-RNA (Target Not Detected) at weeks 4 and 12 of INCIVEK combination treatment may benefit from an additional 36 weeks of peginterferon alfa and ribavirin (48 weeks total) [see Clinical Studies (14.2)].

http://pi.vrtx.com/files/uspi_telaprevir.pdf

[willbb]

I agree with  cando-man
Will

[BoceprevirGal]

Hi, and sorry to hear about your Grandma. The good news is, she is only stage 3....I dont htink it is considered Cirrhosis, until stage 4, and stage 5 would be decompensated cirrhosis. At anyrate, it IS a good idea for her to treat immediately, I agree with her Doctor, and I do know of a friend, with stage 4 cirrhosis, who treated with the triple tx of Teleprivir, for 48 weeks, and his varal load is undetectable, at his 3 month post treatment blood test.
   That being said, if the other FDA approved medicine is available (Boceprivir) that is also an option, without the possible side effect of hemmoroids, and a rash. But it has a slightly higher chance of giving her anemia, but, most of usin my support group DID get anemia, which would be a troublesome side affect for a 68 yr old, because it causes difficulty breathing. BUT..then they prescribe a rescue med, called Procrit (or do blood transfusions, if Procrit fails)...and anemia and Procrit can cause heart (coronary) problems, and hearts are more frail, as we age.
    The advantage of the Boceprivir is...there is a 4 week lead in, with just the Interferon shot, and the ribaviron pills...and then the Doc can see how much her viral load drops, just on these two old srtandard meds, before adding the third med (Teleprivir or Boceprivir, which are very new Protease Inhibitors, approved by the FDA last May-and they up the cure rate for Geno type 1's, from 50% cure rate to over 70% cure rate, especially if she takes the meds every 8 hrs, everytime!)
   If her Hep C virus goes undetected at 4 weeks, with the Boceprivir, then she will onlyhave to do 28 weeksm, instead of 48 weeks, like me, a big advantage for us older folks (although I'm only almost 50 yrs). Like-wise, if she chooses Teleprivir, they will start all three meds at once, for 12 weeks,m and the remaining 36 weeks will only be the Interferon shot, and the Ribaviron pills, and double therapy is a piece of cake, compared to triple therapy, in terms of side-effects!
   We have three womenm in their mid-sixties, in my support group, that are on their 20th week of the triple therapy, that started with Teleprivir. Two are doing fine, but the third is having trouble with anemia, but still hanging in there- hope thisimfo helps, and feel free to ask me anymore question : )

[can-do-man]

Both telaprevir and boceprevir was recently introduced, both drugs are used with peg and riba (SOC) and yes people with cirrhosis have treated and been cured using either one.

I have cirrhosis and treated adding boceprevir after my first treatment with just SOC failed.......... And it worked, make sure her doctor is very up to date on either drug and treating people with cirrhosis.... Good luck.