Viekira Pak

[pat12]

Hey guys, thought I'd ask you knowledgeable folks here your thoughts...I'm treatment naive, gt 1b, low viral load, fibroscan 4.5, had hep c for 40 years, yet "not sick enough" for my plan to pay for Harvoni for 8 weeks.  My Dr. suggested Abbvie's Viekira Pak.  He said very high success rate for 1b's...12 weeks, no riba, more pill burden than the one pill Harvoni, but I'm tired of waiting, nor do I have the energy to battle the insurance company...I'm tired of waiting and waiting..  What do you think of this protocol?  Thanks and Happy New Year!

[Sarah1949]

If it was me, I'd want Harvoni but we often cannot get everything we want and the push right now is for the Viekera Pak because it costs less money. If you have cirrhosis you have to do Ribavirin along with the Viekera Pak and I don't ever want to have to do Ribavirin. Also, I've heard enough people talk about their experience with Harvoni and most are having a very easy time of it. Perhaps Viekera will turn out to be just as easy. Who knows. This is just my thinking.

[pat12]

Thank you!!  I'll check it out now!

[flyinlynn]

Hi Pat

Here is a link to clinical trial results from the Universiry of Washington

Check out page 5 for Genotype 1b looks to me like 99.0%

http://depts.washington.edu/hepstudy/presentations/uploads/133/pearl__3d__u.pdf

Good luck on treatment
Lynn

[pat12]

Thank you, thank you!!!  That's what I'm looking to hear!  I'm so happy for you and thank you for responding!  :)

[AWorriedMom]

I was genotype 1a, cirrhotic, had HCV since 1965, many time previous null-responder, with a viral load of 7 million. I did the Turquoise II trial and cleared in 4 weeks. This February I will be clear 2 years. I  am a huge fan of the Abbvie drugs. My vote is.....Go for it!

[pat12]

Hi Pooh, thanks for responding...When my Dr. suggested this as an alternative, I was somewhat bummed out because I had been waiting for Harvoni and all I knew about Abbvie was the pill burden was more.  But he told me it was 99% effective and to think about it.  That's when I started to do some research, but there's not much out there since its so new and was hoping that those who did the trials with this can comment and if they reached SVR12, how were the "real life" symptoms, etc.   I'm a lot more positive about it now and if I can get this, I'll be happy to give it a shot...Happy New Year!