Preliminary data from a trial of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s interferon-free triple combination therapy of daclatasvir, asunaprevir and BMS-791325 showed cure rates around 90 percent, MedPage Today reports. In a Phase II trial, researchers studied the three drugs among 66 study participants with genotype 1 of hepatitis C, the most difficult group to treat. They were divided into four treatment arms, which differed by the length of treatment and the dose of BMS-791325. The investigators presented their as-yet-unpublished findings at the ID Week 2013 meeting in San Francisco.

Daclatasvir is an NS5A replication complex inhibitor. Asunaprevir is an NS3 protease inhibitor. And BMS-791325 is a polymerase inhibitor.

In three of the study groups, 94 percent of the participants (15 out of 16) achieved a sustained virologic response 12 weeks after completing therapy (SVR12, considered a cure). In one other study group, in which participants were treated for 12 weeks and received a higher dose of BMS-791325, 89 percent (16 out of 18) achieved an SVR12. One of them experienced viral breakthrough during treatment and then relapsed during the follow-up period.

No participant stopped treatment because of adverse effects. There was only one clinical adverse effect considered severe: a headache that dissipated in time while the participant continued taking the drugs.

To read the MedPage Today story, click here.