hep c geno 2 stage 4 cirrhosis

[HaveFaith4Me]

stage 4 cirrhosis hepatitis c geno 2. Failed peg/rib combo year ago...please help I dont know what tx would be best?

[marie55567]

Choose any trial that does not and the interferon in it.  His doctor will help  with that.  Do your research also.  What minor operation did he have?  How long was he on treatments?  What are the doctors planning to do now?

[HaveFaith4Me]

Yes he was cirrhosis from the beginning. Stage 4. We actually had no idea he was even sick until 2 years ago (almost 3) he went in for a minor surgery and they found out he had cirrhosis and then that's when we found out he had hep c. He got it from a blood transfusion a long time ago. He doesn't drink anymore, been clean and sober for almost 5 years Thank God. He treated a year ago on the peg/rib combo, cleared the virus within 3 weeks of treatment but relapsed after 3 months post treatment.

[marie55567]

I had the same kind of hepatitis.  Had the same treatment as your boyfriend. Was he cirrhosis from the beginning?  .  I did clear mine 4 years now. I hope he is not drinking alcohol.  Like Hector said a lot of new trials are out.  He probably need to take a break from the treatments. When was his last treatments? I had Bruce Bacon for my doctor.  He the one that treated the Country singer Judd.

[HaveFaith4Me]

78% sounds wonderful! Thank you so much Hector for the information, you guys are truly a BLESSING! Send prayers our way as I will all your way.

[HectorSF]

Here is the data set pertaining to genotype 2 patients using Gilead's therapy that is awaiting FDA approval by December. Expect the therapy to be available and insurance companies to pay for its use in early 2014.

The Gilead FUSION trial treated genotype 2 and 3 treatment-experienced patients for either 12 or 16 weeks with Sofosbuvir and Ribavirin.
75% were prior relapsers
70% had unfavorable IL28B patterns
1/3 had cirrhosis

Results:
Non-cirrhotics G2 with 12 weeks of treatment had a SVR rate of 96%
Non-cirrhotics G2 with 16 weeks of treatment had a SVR rate of 100%

Cirrhotics G2 with 12 weeks of treatment had a SVR rate of 60%.
Cirrhotics G2 with 16 weeks of treatment had a SVR rate of 78%

These SVR rates are much higher than current peg-interferon and ribavirin retreatment.

Sofosbuvir/Ribavirin was generally safe with few serious adverse events which are common with peg-interferon based treatments especially in cirrhotics.

Genotype 2 is the most successfully treatable genotype.
Good luck!
Hector

[HaveFaith4Me]

Thanks all! We've decided were going to refuse interferon tx and request the new meds.

[can-do-man]

Ask your doctor about treating with this combo, hopefully at the first of the year. Cirrhotics did pretty well.

On April 8, 2013, Gilead Sciences submitted an application to the FDA for approval of sofosbuvir, an HCV nucleotide polymerase inhibitor, for use with ribavirin in HCV genotypes 2 and 3,

[HaveFaith4Me]

thank you both. This is so hard as I feel all we've ran into is bad news after bad news. Maybe the next will be more hopeful.

[can-do-man]

I posted this also in your other thread.

" Retreating with interferon for 48 weeks was the way to go in the past, unless I am missing something here with new treatment options hopefully just a few months away one would think they would wait, genotype 2 even with cirrhosis has very good odds and less treatment times............. Best to you.'

[orphanedhawk]

If you can get into a trial with some of the new meds, I'd go for it as they are doing well especially for genotype 2.