Effectiveness and safety of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir in chronic hepatitis C patients: Results of the Italian cohort of a post-marketing observational study

Background and Aims: The MARS post-marketing, observational study evaluates glecaprevir/pibrentasvir in a large population of Italian patients who are infected with HCV.Patients and Methods: Achievement of SVR12 was the primary endpoint in the overall population and by subpopulations of interest (treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients, subjects infected with different HCV genotype/sub-genotype, cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients, patients with different severity of fibrosis, patients with an APRI score > 1, subjects with comorbidities, HIV-coinfected patients, elderly patients and people who use drugs). Safety and quality of life (assessed by SF-36 and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment) were also evaluated.Results: The SVR12 rate was 99.4% (319/321; 95% CI: 97.8-99.8%) in the core population with sufficient follow-up ( n = 321), 99.7% (289/290) in 8-week treated patients, and high ( > 96%) across subgroups. Only three patients (0.9%) had treatment-related adverse events that led to treatment discontinuation. In total, 30.1% of patients showed an improvement of > 2.5 points in the Physical Component Summary of the SF 36 from baseline to the end of treatment, and this figure raised to 37.5% with the achievement of SVR12. Corresponding values for MCS were 42.2% and 42.8%, respectively.Conclusion: Glecaprevir/pibrentasvir is safe and effective across subpopulations who are underserved in clinical trials.(c) 2020 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.