Papers of the Week

Glecaprevir/pibrentasvir, a pangenotypic, direct-acting antiviral combination approved for chronic hepatitis C virus treatment, has limited real-world evidence supporting 8-week therapy in compensated cirrhosis. We investigated effectiveness and safety of 187 hepatitis C virus-infected, treatment-naïve, patients with compensated cirrhosis receiving 8-week glecaprevir/pibrentasvir therapy in the German Hepatitis C-Registry between 2 August 2017 and 1 January 2020. Sustained virologic response was 98.4% (127/129) in the per-protocol analysis (excluding patients lost to follow-up or who discontinued treatment due to compliance) and was 85.8% (127/148) in patients with data available in an intention-to-treat analysis. Nineteen patients were lost to follow-up; nine genotype 3 patients, nine non-genotype 3 patients and one mixed genotype patient. One patient relapsed, and one died, unrelated to treatment. Adverse events (> 5%) were fatigue and headache. Two serious adverse events occurred; no adverse events resulted in drug discontinuation. 8-week glecaprevir/pibrentasvir therapy was effective and well-tolerated in this real-world analysis.