TOPIC:

Hey there! I just started my generic Epclusa last night. Very excited! I am getting stressed out though because I have heard of so many people with GT3 relapsing and the virus coming back. I am treatment naïve but worried that 12 weeks of the Epclusa might not be enough? If I’m Undectected at 4 weeks does that usually correlate to irradication of the virus? Does that usually lead to being cured for good?

Hello wrightjw198034, welcome to the forum, and congratulations on starting treatment . Don't stress out, even though Genotype 3 is the most difficult of all genotypes, it's still easy to treat for treatment naive patients with the new DAA medications, such as Epclusa. So if the generic Epclusa you're taking is of good quality, your cure chances are really excellent with the standard 12 weeks course, about 90% (95% for the other genotypes).

Also, if you're undetected at 4 weeks, it does not mean that you will be cured after the end of treatment with total certainty. Cure can be declared with 99% certainty when a patient has an undetectable test 12 weeks after end of treatment. The certainty increases to 99.9% when the test yields an undetectable result 24 weeks after end of treatment, this is the golden standard for declaring a patient cured.

On a side note, if you're undetected at any time after start of treatment, there is no need to waste time and money by taking the test again until you finish treatment, because once you're undetected during treatment, you will stay undetected until you finish it.

Hi,

The odds are so extremely good, as in rare medical miracle good, for all of us with these great new meds, GT3 is only slightly more likely to need another go. I was in that hardest group, had failed the old treatments twice, g3, had it decades, cirrhosis, on the slide down. I wasn't undetected I think until about 18/24 weeks treatment, but I won the fight this time. Don't even worry about all those stats, it is the finish line, takes a while, but sooo worth it.

Great to hear you have started. I felt better really fast, others that is more incremental, but your virus is getting marching orders, right now! good luck.

Hello wrightjw198034,

For a treatment naive GT3 patient with low fibrosis 12 weeks of Epclusa will deliver a 95% cure rate.

Yes, being undetected at 4 weeks is a good sign.

While ~22% of people will still be detected at 4 weeks these patients go on to form ~44% of the relapse cases. Note that most of the relapse patients were undetected at 4 weeks, but the odds of relapse are higher if you are still detected. If still detected at 4 weeks, adding 4 weeks extra treatment as a from of insurance is not an insane idea.