Efficacy and safety of daclatasvir and asunaprevir combination therapy in chronic hemodialysis patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Background: HCV infection in chronic hemodialysis patients is high, has a poor prognosis and high risk of renal graft failure, and requires nosocomial infection control measures. However, options of anti-HCV therapy in such patients are limited and unsatisfactory. In this study, we report effectiveness and safety of HCV-NS5A-inhibitor daclatasvir (DCV) and protease-inhibitor asunaprevir (ASV) combination therapy for hemodialysis patients with HCV infection.

Methods: This study was registered at the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry as UMIN000016355. Thirty-four dialysis patients were treated with DCV/ASV combination therapy between January 2015 and November 2015. Of those, 21 patients who were followed more than 12 weeks after treatment ended were included. We evaluated the 12-week sustained virologic response (SVR12) and adverse events during treatment.

Results: Of the 21 patients, four had compensated liver cirrhosis and three had resistance-associated variant of NS5A (NS5A RAVs)-Y93H at baseline. Overall, total of 95.5 % (20/21) of the patients achieved SVR12. Of note, all patients with cirrhosis or NS5A RAVs achieved SVR12. One relapser patient at 4 weeks post-treatment had NS3 D168E RAVs at baseline. A total of 20 patients (95.5 %) completed the 24-week therapy. One patient discontinued treatment at week 12 due to ALT elevations and achieved SVR12.

Conclusions: DAV and ASV combination therapy for chronic hemodialysis patients with HCV infection was highly effective and well tolerated, even in elderly patients and patients with liver cirrhosis and NS5A-RAVs.