Review of boceprevir and telaprevir for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C

OBJECTIVE: To summarize and evaluate the published literature pertaining to boceprevir and telaprevir, and to provide clinicians with suggestions for use in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. METHODS: A standardized search strategy was performed using the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google Scholar and International Pharmaceuticals Abstracts databases using the search terms boceprevir, telaprevir, boceprevir and hepatitis C and telaprevir and hepatitis C. A manual search of references was performed to identify articles missed by the electronic search. Studies were included in the review if they assessed either boceprevir or telaprevir in comparison with standard of care in chronic hepatitis C patients. RESULTS: The studies identified assessed boceprevir and telaprevir in genotype-1 hepatitis C patients. In both treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients, sustained virological response rates were achieved more often with boceprevir or telaprevir in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin compared with pegylated interferon and ribavirin alone. Both medications were well tolerated, with anemia presenting as the most treatment-limiting adverse effect. CONCLUSIONS: Boceprevir and telaprevir will revolutionize the management of hepatitis C genotype 1 patients and will most likely decrease the burden of end-stage disease worldwide. However, current clinical limitations include establishing appropriate and cost-effective treatment durations, and use in special populations such as transplant patients and patients coinfected with HIV. Future research will need to clarify these clinical obstacles to clearly define the role of these agents in hepatitis C management.