COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFICACY OF COMBINED SOFOSBUVER RIBAVIRIN IN TREATMENT NAIVE VERSUS EXPERIENCED EGYPTIAN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS C.

and safety of the oral nucleotide polymerase inhibitor sofosbuvir in combination with ribavirin in Egyptian patients, chronically infected with genotype 4 hepatitis C virus (HCV). Methods:Treatment-naive and previously treated patients with genotype 4 HCV were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to receive sofosbuvir 400 mg and weight-based ribavirin, for 24 weeks. The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of patients with sustained virologic response (HCV RNA <25 IU/ml) 12 weeks after cessation of therapy (SVR12). Results: treatment-naive and previously treated patients were enrolled and treated for 24 weeks SVR12 was achieved by 68% of patients in the 24-week group. The most common adverse events were headache, insomnia, and fatigue. No patient discontinued treatment due to an adverse event. Conclusions:The findings from the present study suggest that 24 weeks of sofosbuvir plus ribavirin is an efficacious and well tolerated treatment in patients with HCV genotype 4 infection.