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21 active trials for Chronic Hepatitis C

Re-treatment of HCV Following DAA Failure

HCV infection is treated with oral drugs, termed as 'direct-acting anti-viral agents' (DAAs). In India, four DAAs are available (sofosbuvir [SOF], daclatasvir [DCV], ledipasvir [LDV] and velpatasvir [VEL]). Globally, DAA based regimens have obtained excellent rates of cure. Cure of HCV infection is defined as undetectable HCV RNA 12 weeks after stopping drugs, also referred to as sustained virological response at week 12 (SVR12). Using these DAA based treatment regimens, a small number (up to 5%) of people fail to achieve SVR12 and HCV RNA reappear after a few weeks of stopping the drugs (virological relapse). Data on management of virological relapse are extremely limited, especially in genotype 3, and no guidelines exist regarding re-treatment options for such group. Hence, we plan to re-treat such people using what appear to be the best combination treatment in each situation and to review our experience over time. Participants with chronic HCV infection who relapsed following standard DAA-based treatment regimen will be invited to participate. We propose to re-treat them with the anti-HCV drug combination which appears to be the most suited to his/her clinical profile, based on the current empiric knowledge - the choice of drugs will be based on HCV genotype, the previous treatment regimen and the presence/absence of liver cirrhosis, etc. During anti-HCV treatment, participants will be given expected standard of care and HCV RNA will be tested at 4-week intervals starting from week 4 and till RNA becomes undetectable, and then at the end of treatment and 12 weeks after the treatment was stopped - as is the usual practice during such treatment. Relevant clinical, laboratory and treatment details will be recorded in a pre-defined data collection form. Treatment outcome will be categorized as success (SVR12), treatment failure (any detectable HCV RNA at the end of 24 weeks treatment duration) or relapse (HCV RNA negative at the end of treatment, but positive at 12 weeks after stopping treatment). If possible, a 5-ml blood specimen will be collected before starting re-treatment from all participants; in addition, another similar specimen will be collected following the treatment in those in whom the re-treatment is unsuccessful. These will be stored and may be used in future for virological studies to look for drug-resistance variations.

Start: February 2018
Ezetimibe as a Safe and Efficacious Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis C

To address the need for more affordable hepatitis C virus (HCV) antivirals with high barriers to viral resistance and strategies to shorten the current treatment duration, the goal is to develop affordable therapeutic regimens to prevent HCV entry/spread and test the efficacy of those inhibitors for treating HCV infection. The investigators recently discovered that a major cholesterol uptake receptor is required for HCV entry into hepatocytes and that there is already an FDA-approved drug that inhibits cholesterol uptake by this receptor. Importantly the same drug also potently blocks HCV entry in human liver cells both in cell culture and in a small animal model. Further, looking back at people who were previously treated for HCV infection, the investigators found treatment response to be better (i.e. larger viral log reduction) in patients who happened to be taking ezetimibe (EZE). Hence, the objective of this study is to assess whether the FDA-approved drug (ezetimibe) is useful for the treatment of chronic HCV. The investigators predict that when administered as monotherapy ezetimibe will reduce HCV viremia perhaps allowing for viral clearance and that when included in combination treatment regimens that EZE will increase HCV decline resulting in faster viral clearance (i.e. shorter/cheaper direct-acting antiviral [DAA] therapy). To test these hypotheses, the investigators will execute the following aims: (1) Assess the efficacy of EZE monotherapy in chronically HCV infected and predict time to cure; (2) Assess the efficacy of EZE as an adjunct therapy in chronically HCV infected patients undergoing currently approved HCV DAA treatment.

Start: April 2018
Eliminate Hepatitis C/EC Partnership Evaluation Protocol

The Eliminate Hepatitis C (EC) Partnership project is a multi-site, multi-year project aiming to enhance and extend hepatitis C virus (HCV) care and treatment among people who inject drugs (PWID) through nurse-led models of care in the community and the prison system. The project will implement and evaluate a health service intervention to enhance HCV response by improving health promotion, offering training and education to service providers, streamlining clinical pathways, utilising data systems and surveillance and implementing the results of ongoing research and evaluation. Health services data will be used to assess the impact of the EC nurse-led support, to enhance the clinical pathway and increase HCV testing, linkage to care and treatment uptake in community and prison settings. This will include provider and client interviews and a sentinel surveillance system (ACCESS) that will track and monitor impact indicators including HCV testing, linkage to care and treatment uptake at the service and population level. Overall, evaluation data will be used to monitor the uptake of HCV treatment in PWID, monitor the effectiveness of community- and prison-based treatment program and assess the cost and feasibility of treating >1160 PWID in community-/prison-based program and assess changes in HCV prevalence in Victoria and modelling the impact of treating PWID to inform HCV elimination models in Australia and globally.

Start: December 2016
Role of the Host Immunity in the Non-response to Direct Anti-viral Agent (DAA) Therapy

Anti-viral, hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific immune T cell responses are functionally defective in patients with chronic hepatitis C and this functional impairment is believed to contribute to virus persistence. Persistent exposure to high virus loads is likely involved in the pathogenesis of T cell dysfunction. The underlying hypothesis of the project is that the level of anti-viral immune dysfunction in chronic HCV infection is a causal factor which can influence non-response to therapy. Although the rate of response to direct anti-viral agent (DAA) therapy, in untreated, non-cirrhotic, patients is between 95% and 100%, however, the response rate is lower in specific subgroups of patients, including genotype 3 cirrhotics and patients with decompensated cirrhosis, irrespective of the infecting genotype. Aim of the present study will be thus to understand whether non-response to therapy is associated with a wider and deeper anti-viral immune dysfunction, by comparing individual HCV-specific T cell responses in two groups of responder and non-responder patients. Characterization of protective immunity in non-responder patients could allow to identify baseline predictors of non-response to therapy to be used in the daily clinical practice. Objective of the study will be to compare the features (intensity and quality) of the overall HCV-specific immune T cell response in patients non-responder and responder to DAA therapy. To achieve this goal, T lymphocytes (either CD4 or CD8) isolated from the peripheral blood of the patients, before starting DAA therapy, will be stimulated with HCV proteins to evaluate the capacity of those cells to expand, produce cytokines and express cytotoxic capacity.

Start: August 2017