Professor Gill's team presented three research papers in 31st national conference of Pakistan Society of Gastroenterology being held in Serena , Islamabad from April 3rd to April 5th 2015. One of the study "New treatment of Hepatiits C with Sovaldi and Ribavirin" was given best scientific paper Award by the Society. Professor Gill has congratulated his team on their outstanding contribution, since it is the first scientific paper about new treatment in Pakistan.

SIDRA GILL, MISBAH MALIK, NOSHEEN YOUSAF, FAIZA IRFAN, AMMARA NAWAZ, MUZZAFFAR GILL
MAROOF INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

Background and Aims: Sosobuvir (Sovaldi)  plus Ribavirin is new relative gold standard for chronic hepatitis C patients. It is recommended both for treatment naive and treatment experienced patients. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of sofosbuvir and ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis G 3 patients.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 150 patients with chronic hepatitis C G3 patients.These patient were relapser/non responder with previous therapy pegylated interferon and Ribavirin.
Patients with de compensated cirrhosis, platelets count<100, portal vein size >13 mm on ultrasound in size were excluded from this study.
Eligible patients were enrolled to receive Sovaldi 400mg daily and Ribavirin 10 mg/Kg body weight for 6 months.  These patients were seen in outpatient 4 weekly basis. Patients had baseline CBC, TSH, Blood Sugar, HCV Genotype, HCVPCR quantitative were done. Each patient had CBC at every 4 weeks. Rapid virologic response at treatment weeks 4 (RVR4), early virological response (EVR) at weeks 12 and the end of treatment (ETR) at week 24 were defined by HCV RNA <25 IU/mL.

Results: This is our ongoing study we are presenting interim analysis of 50 patients who have completed 12 weeks of treatment.

All patients will complete 24 weeks of treatment. The most common AEs were nausea, fatigue, and dizziness. Conclusions: Sofosbuvir + Ribavirin in HCV-G3 infected patients is very effective treatment .Most patients achieved rapid Virologic response without any major side effects. Additional follow-up data will be presented later.