Abbvie’s Maviret, a hepatitis C treatment, has received approval for additional indications in treating liver and kidney transplant patients from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Under the updated approval, patients with liver or kidney transplants can now take the medication for 12 weeks after receiving an operation. It is also possible to use the treatment in combination with tacrolimus, one of the most commonly used immunosuppressants for transplant patients.

The ministry also allowed medical professionals to consider a 16 week treatment for genotype 1-infected patients who have received nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) protease inhibitor treatment but have not received nonstructural protein 3/4A (NS3/4A) protease inhibitor treatment, and genotype 3-infected patients who have treatment experience with regimens containing (peg)interferon, ribavirin, and/or sofosbuvir.

Maviret is Korea’s first and only oral hepatitis C treatment which covers all genotypes from type 1 to 6. Also, the therapy is ribavirin-free when treating genotype-2 patients, who account for half of the nation’s hepatitis C patients.

corea022@docdocdoc.co.kr

<© Korea Biomedical Review, All rights reserved.>