Clinical pharmacist specialists may aid in drug therapy management of HCV-infected patients
02 Dec 2019
Clinical pharmacists ought to receive their well-deserved specialist status, and be recognised as an asset to the healthcare team.Utilizing a clinical pharmacist specialist in a hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment clinic may help improve drug therapy management of HCV-infected patients treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), suggests a recent study.
A total of 132 patients were managed by a clinical pharmacist specialist. Of these, 87 (66 percent) were treated with ledipasvir/sofosbuvir, 29 (22 percent) with paritaprevir/ritonavir/ombitasvir plus dasabuvir, and 16 (12 percent) with sofosbuvir-based regimen. These treatments showed a sustained virologic response (SVR) rate of 92 percent (n=80), 100 percent (n=29) and 93.8 percent (n=15), respectively.
The SVR rate achieved was 94 percent against HCV genotype 1 (GT-1) and 100 percent against GT-2 to GT-4. The overall SVR rate was 94 percent across regimens: 93 percent in treatment-naïve patients, 96 percent in treatment-experienced patients, 93 percent in noncirrhotic patients and 94 percent in compensated cirrhotic patients.
These results were similar to those reported in pivotal trials for DAAs, according to the authors.
In this study, a clinical pharmacist-managed HCV treatment clinic in treating HCV-infected veterans with DAAs was established under a collaborative practice agreement with infectious disease physicians. Participating veterans were treated between 1 November 2014 and 30 November 2015.
To evaluate SVR after 12 weeks of treatment, the clinical pharmacist specialist engaged in the following activities: pretreatment screening, drug selection, patient education, medication counselling, drug therapy monitoring, drug utilization review, addressing issues on drug adherence, and routine and post-treatment follow-up of patients.