Comparison of peg-interferon, ribavirin plus telaprevir vs simeprevir by propensity score matching.

AIM: To compare efficacy of telaprevir (TVR) and simeprevir (SMV) combined with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) while treating chronic hepatitis C (CHC). METHODS: In all, 306 CHC patients were included in this study. There were 159 patients in the TVR combination therapy group and 147 patients in the SMV combination therapy group. To evaluate pretreatment factors contributing to sustained virological response at 12 wk (SVR12), univariate and multivariate analyses were performed in TVR and SMV groups. To adjust for patient background between TVR and SMV groups, propensity score matching was performed. Virological response during treatment and SVR12 were evaluated. RESULTS: Overall rates of SVR12 [undetectable serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA levels] were 79.2% and 69.4% in TVR and SMV groups, respectively. Patients in the SMV group were older, had higher serum HCV RNA levels, lower hemoglobin, higher prevalence of unfavorable interleukin-28B (IL28B) genotype (rs8099917), and poorer response to previous PEG-IFN and RBV treatment. Propensity score matching was performed to adjust for backgrounds (n = 104) and demonstrated SVR12 rates of 74.0% and 73.1% in the TVR and SMV groups, respectively. In the TVR group, discontinuation rates were higher because of adverse events; however, breakthrough and nonresponse was more frequent in the in SMV group. Multivariate analysis revealed IL28B genotype (rs8099917) as the only independent predictive factor of SVR12 in both groups. CONCLUSION: SVR12 rates were almost identical following propensity score matching.