real-world effectiveness of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (gle/pib) for chronic hepatitis c infection: evidence from a german single-center cohort study

Background: glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (gle/pib) is the latest approved pan-genotypic direct-acting antiviral agent (daa) for thetreatment of chronic hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection. however, real-world data of gle/pib in european patient cohorts are limited.methods: a single-center cohort of 100 unselected hcv patients seen at the outpatient clinic of the university medical center hamburg-eppendorf from october 2017 until september 2019 was retrospectively analyzed by chart review with a special focus ondemographic clinical and virologic aspects as well as treatment compliance outcome.results: a total of 99 patients with chronic hcv infection (genotype (gt) 1 - 6), who started antiviral treatment with gle/pib, were included. treatment duration lastedfrom4to 16 weeks. theprimary endpointwasa sustained virological response atweek12 (svr12) after the end of treatment (eot). only three patients (3/100; 3%) were diagnosed with liver cirrhosis by non-invasive measures. ten patients (10/100; 10%) were pre-treated with interferon (ifn) containing regiments. most patients received 8 weeks of treatment (96/100; 96%). one patient discontinued treatment after four weeks due to poor compliance (1/100; 1%). a high number of patients were lost to follow-up (22/100; 22%). all patientswhowere regularly seen to follow-up visits (76/100; 76%) achieved svr12 (76/76; 100%).virological relapse occurred in none of the patients. adverse events (aes) were rarely reported (4 patients) (4/100; 4%), and none of these patients discontinued treatment.conclusions: this study demonstrated that initial and re-treatment with gle/pib were effective and safe in a german cohort with chronic hcv infection in real-life settings, regardless of gt.