What the trial was testing
The EXPEDITION-8 enrolled 343 patients with hepatitis c. The study was sponsored by AbbVie and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
It was a large trial designed to confirm whether the treatment works well enough for wider use. Trials at this stage are designed to produce evidence regulators and physicians can act on — not just observations to follow up later.
What the results showed
98% of patients with hepatitis C and cirrhosis were cured with 8 weeks of treatment.
Journal of hepatology · 2020 · NCT03089944
These findings — that eight weeks of treatment cured nearly all patients with cirrhosis. — were published in the Journal of hepatology and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 343 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with hepatitis c, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
This combination pill is FDA-approved for hepatitis C. The EXPEDITION-8 trial showed that people with compensated cirrhosis can take a shorter 8-week course instead of 12 weeks and achieve the same high cure rates. Talk to your doctor about whether this treatment is right for you.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open hepatitis c trials
Drug-Drug Intercations and Direct Acting Antiviral Agents Against HCV
Background: Currently used direct-acting antivirals (DAA) share pharmacokinetic pathways with many comedications commonly used in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, therefore drug-drug interactions (DDI) might exist. Although extensive (DDI) verification is recommended by most clinical practice guidelines, real-world studies have shown that approximately one-tenth of patients on DAA therapy also take concomitant medication with the potential for significant interactions. Despite the risk of significant DDI when patients are administered DAA and a concomitant medication, to date, there is very little information on whether these interactions translate into changes in the toxicity or efficacy of any involved DAA or comedication in clinical practice. Clarifying this issue is a critical point, as the DDI profile of the currently used DAA is not the same, with SOF/VEL showing a lower risk of significant DDI than GLE/PIB. Thus the objective of this study is to compare the percentage of comedication switch, withdrawal, or dose reduction at treatment initiation and during treatment with GLE/PIB or SOF/VEL. Methods: The patients will be enrolled from the GEHEP 001/HEPAVIR cohort. "The HEPAVIR-DAA cohort (NCT02057003)", includes HIV/HCV-coinfected patients, and "the GEHEP-MONO cohort (NCT02333292)", that includes HCV mono-infected individuals, are ongoing prospective multicenter cohorts of patients receiving DAA combinations prescribed in clinical practice, outside clinical trials. Main Study End Point will be the frequency of comedication switch, withdrawal or dose reduction at treatment initiation (index date) and during treatment with GLE/PIB or SOF/VEL.
Screening of Patients With Hepatic Fibrosis or Cirrhosis B and C
Regardless of its etiology (chronic hepatitis B or C, alcohol consumption, metabolic steatohepatitis, hemochromatosis, autoimmune liver disease), cirrhosis is a real public health issue. Cirrhosis is a chronic disease and can get complicated by liver cancer, digestive hemorrhage, or liver failure, which are responsible for morbidity and mortality. In France, cirrhosis prevalence is estimated at 700,000 patients and induce 16,000 deaths per year (10,000 liver cancer and 6,000 liver decompensation). In Ile-de-France area, cirrhosis prevalence is estimated at 130,000 cases, a lot of them are in Seine Saint Denis department due to precariousness. Hepatitis C virus can now be cured and hepatitis B treatment can suspend hepatitis B replication. All these treatments reduce liver complications but even after virological cure, cirrhosis requires dedicated long term management as well as alcoholic liver disease and metabolic steatohepatitis at cirrhosis stage. Periodic screening for complications and specific measures were defined by french HAS in 2007 (medication intake, dietary management and specific vaccinations), especially the performance of a semi-annual liver ultrasound for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) screening. Then, it seems essential to screen for patients with viral hepatitis and extensive fibrosis or cirrhosis in our department to achieve active and individualized management of this chronic liver disease, to reduce long term morbidity and mortality. The main aim of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of advanced liver fibrosis and viral infections B and C in the general population of Seine Saint Denis, using a dual screening method of TROD (rapid diagnostic orientation test) and FibroScan®, combined with a care pathway