April 2016 (Medical News Today)
In the multi-center C-EDGE Head-to-Head study, investigators randomized 255 patients to 12 weeks of treatment with elbasvir (an NS5A inhibitor) plus grazoprevir (an NS3/4A protease inhibitor) or the NS5A inhibitor sofosbuvir plus peginterferon and ribavirin (PR).
Results in the full analysis set showed that the primary efficacy endpoint of sustained virologic response 12 weeks after the completion of therapy (SVR12) was achieved in 99% (128/129) of patients receiving elbasvir/grazoprevir versus 90% (114/126) of patients receiving sofosbuvir plus PR.
Further analysis demonstrated superior SVR rates with the elbasvir/grazoprevir regimen in patients who had not responded to prior peginterferon/ribavirin therapy and in patients with cirrhosis, a higher baseline viral load, or IL28B non-CC genotype.
No patient had virologic failure in the elbasvir/grazoprevir group. However, virologic failure was documented in 11 (9%) patients in the sofosbuvir plus PR group.