Hello, I have been treated 2 different times. Once with the normal treatment and once with teleprevir. The second treatment failed. Can I now take boceprevir and see if that works? If so, how soon can I start treatment?

It can be frustrating to work hard on hepatitis C treatment, and not be cured. This is the case for many people, and one of the reasons why many new medications are under study, in the hopes that the future medications can cure a higher proportion of people. We hope that someday in the not-too-distant future hepatitis C will be cured 100% of the time with effective, safe medicines.

In general, there is not enough information about telaprevir failure, to recommend starting pegylated interferon plus ribavirin plus boceprevir. Telaprevir and boceprevir are similar medications, in the same family of medications, called hepatitis C first generation protease inhibitors. It may be helpful to discuss with your doctor how much damage, if any, the hepatitis C has caused to your liver. If your liver is healthy and without scarring, you may be able to wait for better information regarding new medications and next best steps after telaprevir failure. If there is more concern about your liver, you may want to discuss with your doctor the possibility of a clinical trial that involves newer medications under study. It may take a while to find an accessible trial for people not cured with telaprevir.

If you do take a future course of hepatitis C medications, it will be beneficial to fully adhere to what is prescribed and ideally take 100% of all doses of all medications at the recommended times, and with or without food as is recommended.