The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases has updated the treatment guidelines for hepatitis C virus (HCV), Medscape reports. The guidelines were developed in conjunction with the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Antiviral Society-USA and published in the journal Hepatology as well as online.

A panel of 26 hepatologists and one patient advocate developed the original guidelines, which include sections on testing for the virus and linking those who test positive to care; treatment; retreatment after failing therapy; and data on particular populations of people with the virus.

According to the update, treatment-naive people with genotype 1a or 1b, should they choose the non-preferred regimen, should be treated with Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Olysio (simeprevir), with or without ribavirin, for 12 weeks if they do not have cirrhosis, or 24 weeks if they have cirrhosis and do not have the Q80K polymorphism.

Treatment-naive people with genotype 3 should take Sovaldi and ribavirin plus interferon for 12 weeks, or, if they are not eligible to take interferon, Sovaldi and ribavirin for 24 weeks.

Treatment-naive people with genotype 5 or 6 should receive Harvoni (ledipasvir/sofosbuvir) for 12 weeks, or Sovaldi, ribavirin and interferon for 12 weeks. Treating with interferon and ribavirin, with or without Olysio, is not recommended.

To read the Medscape article, click here. (Free registration with the site is required.)

To read the guidelines, click here.

To read a press release about the revisions, click here.

To see a chart of the full AASLD treatment recommendations, broken down by genotype, click here.