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In comparison with NS3/4a protease inhibitors telaprevir and boceprevir, approved by the FDA for treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, simeprevir, a second-generation protease inhibitor, has greater dosing convenience (once vs. 3 times daily) and fewer adverse effects.
In industry-funded, phase III companion studies, investigators evaluated the efficacy and safety of simeprevir plus peginterferon and ribavirin in treatment-naive patients with HCV genotype 1. QUEST-1 was a double-blind study of 394 patients who were randomized to receive simeprevir (150 mg daily) plus peginterferon alfa-2a (180 µg weekly) with ribavirin (1000–1200 mg daily) for 12 weeks, followed by an additional 12 weeks or 36 weeks of peginterferon and ribavirin (…