The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Vosevi to treat adults with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 1-6 without cirrhosis (liver disease) or with mild cirrhosis. Vosevi is a fixed-dose, combination tablet containing two previously approved drugs – sofosbuvir and velpatasvir – and a new drug, voxilaprevir. Vosevi is the first treatment approved for patients who have been previously treated with the direct-acting antiviral drug sofosbuvir or other drugs for HCV that inhibit a protein called NS5A.
“Direct-acting antiviral drugs prevent the virus from multiplying and often cure HCV. Vosevi provides a treatment option for some patients who were not successfully treated with other HCV drugs in the past,” said Edward Cox, M.D., director of the Office of Antimicrobial Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
There are at least six distinct HCV genotypes, or strains, which are genetically distinct groups of the virus. Knowing the strain of the virus can help inform treatment recommendations. Approximately 75 percent of Americans with HCV have genotype 1.
The safety and efficacy of Vosevi was evaluated in two Phase 3 clinical trials that enrolled about 750 adults without cirrhosis or with mild cirrhosis. Results of both trials demonstrated that 96-97 percent of patients who received Vosevi had no virus detected in the blood 12 weeks after finishing treatment, suggesting that patients’ infection had been cured.
