P7: Combination of fluvastatin and standard of care treatment reduces viral relapse in chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 but not genotype 3 patients

In vitro studies demonstrated inhibitory effect of statins to hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. In few clinical trials combination of fluvastatin (FLU) and standard of care treatment (SOC) with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin significantly reduced viral relapse in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) genotype 1 patients. The present controlled study enrolled all together 162 naive CHC patients, 71 with genotype 1 (26 with SOC plus fluvastatin) and 91 with genotype 3 (38 with SOC plus fluvastatin). In conclusion, combination of fluvastatin and SOC significantly reduced viral relapse in patients with CHC genotype 1 and high baseline viral load but not in CHC genotype 3 patients.