HCV in Spotlight at Liver Meeting

Meeting Coverage

Published: Oct 31, 2013 | Updated: Oct 31, 2013

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today

Hepatitis C will once again have center stage at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, which starts Friday in Washington, D.C.

The meeting begins just a week after an FDA advisory panel recommended approval of the first new direct-acting agents against the virus since 2011 -- simeprevir and sofosbuvir.

Meeting attendees will get the latest data on them -- data that is "highly anticipated," according to Gary Davis, MD, the association's secretary.

The standard therapy for hepatitis C (HCV) for many years was pegylated interferon-alfa and ribavirin -- the first an immune system booster and the second a general antiviral medication.

In 2011, the FDA approved two drugs that act against the viral protease enzyme -- telaprevir (Incivek) and boceprevir (Victrelis).

Since then, a suite of drugs has entered the pipeline, acting against various targets in the HCV genome. Among them are simeprevir (another protease inhibitor) and sofosbuvir, which is a nucleotide analog NS5B polymerase inhibitor.

Looked at together, the drugs in the pipeline hold out the promise of getting rid of interferon entirely -- a boon since the drug is regarded as both dangerous and difficult to take.

But, Davis noted, simeprevir was recommended for use in combination with interferon and ribavirin, while for some patients sofosbuvir was also recommended for use with the older drugs.

"People are waiting for interferon-free therapy," Davis told MedPage Today. Nonetheless, he added, simeprevir and sofosbuvir will "solve some of the problems we have" with HCV therapy.

Meanwhile, he said, some of the HCV medications in the pipeline have new data that will "wow" participants, although he was unable to give details in advance of the meeting.

Participants will also hear two important lectures, he said.

Nobel laureate Bruce Beutler, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, is slated to discuss genetic approaches to finding the cause of inherited diseases.

And Anthony Atala, MD, of Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., will discuss tissue engineering and its application to creating new organs, Davis said.

There will also be a "lot of activity" concerning fatty liver disease, Davis said. "This is becoming a huge problem and it's thought that 10% to 11 % of the U.S. population has this," he added.

Meeting participants will be able to hear talks and view posters on the mechanisms of fatty liver disease, as well as the roles played by diet and gut bacteria.

And a special lecture on drug toxicity -- delivered this year by William Lee, MD, also of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center -- will focus on the common over-the-counter medication acetaminophen.

The meeting usually draws between 10,000 and 12,000 participants, Davis said.

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