Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jul 8, 2016; 8(19): 785-789
Published online Jul 8, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i19.785
Sofosbuvir/velpatasvir: A promising combination
Aldo Bonaventura, Fabrizio Montecucco
Aldo Bonaventura, Fabrizio Montecucco, First Clinic of Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genoa School of Medicine, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino-IST Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, 16132 Genoa, Italy
Author contributions: Bonaventura A and Montecucco F contributed equally to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Bonaventura A and Montecucco F declare no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Fabrizio Montecucco, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, First Clinic of Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genoa School of Medicine, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino-IST Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, 6 viale Benedetto XV, 16132 Genoa, Italy. fabrizio.montecucco@unige.it
Telephone: +39-10-3538694 Fax: +39-10-3538686
Received: March 14, 2016
Peer-review started: March 16, 2016
First decision: May 17, 2016
Revised: May 23, 2016
Accepted: June 14, 2016
Article in press: June 16, 2016
Published online: July 8, 2016
Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects 3% of the world population. It represents the main cause of chronic liver disease and is responsible for extra-hepatic complications, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. HCV includes 7 genotypes differing in the nucleotide sequence variability, the geographic distribution, the rates of viral clearance, the risk of progression to liver fibrosis and to hepatocellular carcinoma, and the response to therapy. Last years have seen remarkable advances in the field of HCV infection with the approval of direct antiviral agents (DAAs) targeting key viral proteins involved in the HCV replication. Several oral regimens combining DAAs from different families have been developed and these regimens showed increased and sustained virological response rates to above 90% reducing the treatment duration to 12 wk or less. In particular, sofosbuvir, a nucleotide analogue nonstructural (NS)5B polymerase inhibitor, and velpatasvir, a NS5A inhibitor, have been tested in two phase 3 trials, the ASTRAL-2 (against HCV genotype 2) and the ASTRAL-3 (against HCV genotype 3), demonstrating to be effective, safe, and well tolerated in patients who were 18 years of age or older and had at least a 6-mo history of HCV infection with a compensated liver disease.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, Sofosbuvir, Velpatasvir, NS5A inhibitor, NS5B inhibitor

Core tip: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) spread all over the world. In the last years, new therapies with direct antiviral agents draw a great revolution thanks to several oral regimens combining different drugs of this class. The present editorial provides a brief overview on the association between two direct antiviral agents, sofozsbuvir and velpatasvir, and their implication in the treatment of HCV infection.