Telaprevir-Based Therapy for Chronic Hepatitis C in Japan: A Summary of Clinical Study Results

We summarized the clinical study results of Telaprevir (TVR) in combination with peginterferon and ribavirin for Japanese patients with genotypes 1 and 2 Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection. The Sustained Virological Response (SVR24) rates of relapsers and non-responders with genotype 1 HCV infection were 88.1% (96/109) and 34.4% (11/32), respectively. On the other hand, the SVR24 rates of relapsers and non-responders with genotype 2 HCV infection were 88.0% (95/108) and 50.0% (5/10), respectively. These results demonstrated that high SVR rates are achieved with TVR-based triple therapy in difficultto- treat patients with genotype 2 as well as genotype 1 HCV infection. The majority of Japanese patients with HCV is older and has a lower weight than patients in the United States and Europe. A post-marketing surveillance study of patients with genotype 1 HCV infection showed the SVR rates of naïve patients, relapsers, and non-responders treated at a dose of 2250 mg/day and less than 2250 mg/day of TVR were as follows: 92.1% (680/738) and 90.7% (223/246) in naïve patients; 91.9% (719/782) and 88.9% (297/334) in relapsers; and 74.8% (243/325) and 60.4% (81/134) in non-responders, respectively. These results suggest that the lower dose regimen of TVR maybe a treatment alternative in older and lower weight Japanese patients.