Background These novel treatments for hepatitis C have been recently approved in Spain. Several studies have confirmed their great efficiency in achieving good virological response.

Purpose To present the preliminary results of treatment with these drugs in a 600-bed hospital and find the adherence of patients to triple treatment: ribavirin, peginterferon and boceprevir or telaprevir.

Materials and Methods All patients treated with telaprevir or boceprevir since its inclusion in the hospital (January 2012) were included. We studied the medical records to see if patients were treatment-naive or a previously treated, and we checked the occurrence of adverse reactions associated with antiviral treatment. To calculate the adherence, dispensing records from the Pharmacy Service were used and percentage adherence was calculated. The primary end point was the rate of rapid virological response at week 4 for patients who completed one month of treatment and at week 12 for patients who completed three months. We used a formula for calculating percentage adherence, stating that a patient was adherent if treatment intake exceeded 95%.

Results At the time of the study (June 2012), 8 patients were treated with telaprevir (‘T group’) and 6 with boceprevir (‘B group’). In the T group there were 2 treatment-naive patients and 6 with no response to previous treatment. All patients who completed three months of treatment (4 patients) achieved rapid virological response. The other 4 patients completed one month of treatment and in all of them HCV RNA was undetectable at week 4. Pruritus and eczema were the most common adverse reactions in group T (in 90% of patients). In the B group, there were 3 treatment-naive patients and 3 previously treated. Four patients completed three months of triple treatment, but one of them did not reach rapid virological response. Regarding the 2 patients who completed one month of treatment, only one patient had undetectable HCV RNA at week 4. There were no adverse reactions related to boceprevir in this group. Patients of both groups were adherent to treatment.

Conclusions The addition of boceprevir or telaprevir to standard treatment increased the rates of rapid virological response, in treatment-naive and previously treated patients. The role of the Pharmacy Service is very important in promoting patient adherence despite the adverse effects that may occur.

No conflict of interest.