New HCV Treatments Look Promising for HIV/HCV-Coinfected Patients

After several years of hearing about upcoming advances in hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment, patients and providers were finally rewarded with exciting news in May 2011 — the approval of the HCV protease inhibitors telaprevir and boceprevir. For treatment of patients with HCV genotype 1 monoinfection, both agents clearly improve cure rates when added to a standard interferon/ribavirin regimen. But what about HIV/HCV-coinfected patients, who typically do not respond as well to HCV treatment?

The first efficacy data on telaprevir in this population were presented at this year's Retrovirus Conference (JW AIDS Clin Care Apr 4 2011) and updated at The Liver Meeting (Abstract LB-8). HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with no prior HCV treatment were elig…