FDA approves AbbVie's hepatitis C drug

Last Updated: 2017-08-03

By Reuters Staff

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved AbbVie Inc's drug Mavyret (glecaprevir and pibrentasvir) to treat certain adults with chronic hepatitis C.

Mavyret aims to treat hepatitis C genotypes 1 through 6 in previously untreated adults with or without mild cirrhosis, including patients with moderate to severe kidney disease and those on dialysis.

Mavyret is the only 8-week duration treatment approved for all hepatitis C genotypes, the FDA said. A standard treatment for hepatitis C has a duration of 12-weeks or more. (http://bit.ly/2vxrKo3)

An estimated 2.7 million to 3.9 million people in the United States have chronic hepatitis C infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.