Patients diagnosed with the infectious disease hepatitis C (HCV) may be subjected to various therapies. Recently, Abbott and Enanta Pharmaceuticals asserted that ABT-450/r, an investigational, oral protease inhibitor is beneficial in tackling hepatitis C (HCV) infection. ABT-450 with 100mg of ritonavir to support once-daily dosing seems to be effective as an antiviral activity while treating naive adults.
More than 90 percent study patients, i.e., 21 of 23 probably gained HCV-RNA levels <25 IU/mL after four weeks. On completion of three days of ABT-450/r treatment, 4-log mean reductions of HCV RNA across the three dose ranges of ABT-450 (50mg, 100mg, 200mg, once-daily dosing) as compared to placebo were registered. Researchers mentioned the at the fourth week, 21 out of 23 patients representing 91.3 percent subjected to ABT-450/r in combination with standard of care (SOC) apparently had HCV-RNA <25 IU/ml. Pegylated alpha interferon along with ribavirin (pegIFN/RBV) are known to form the standard care for HCV. Fred Poordad, M.D., chief of hepatology at the Liver Disease and Transplant Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and one of the investigators for the research, said “In spite of the progress that has been made in HCV treatment, limitations in efficacy remain with the current standard of care. The initial results of ABT-450/r in patients with HCV suggest that ABT-450/r has favorable potency in the most common HCV genotype and that ABT-450/r could be an important element in a combination direct-acting antiviral regimen for treatment of HCV.”
The 48-week Phase 2 study focused on testing ABT-450/r for safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and antiviral activity of multiple dose strengths while treating naïve adults infected with HCV genotype 1. Experts claim that HCV genotype 1 is the most common and difficult to treat form of the infection in the developed world. Later, for a period of 12 weeks ABT-450/r was administered with pegIFN/RBV (SOC) followed by treatment with SOC alone for an additional 36 weeks. For 24 weeks study subjects were made to undergo post therapy of sustained virologic response. Currently ABT-450 is being developed with low-dose ritonavir to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of ABT-450 in once-daily dosing.
The research was presented at the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease annual meeting in Boston.l