Sovaldi or Harvoni, what's the difference?

Sovaldi or Harvoni, what is the difference?

Relatively recently, a year apart, the large American biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc. developed and released innovative drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C: in the fall of 2013 - Sovaldi (Sovaldi) and in 2014 - Harvoni (Harvoni). With the appearance of these antiviral drugs, many patients have a real opportunity to overcome this insidious disease.

It should be said that the drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni have a similar principle of action. The active substances of these drugs block the key protein-enzymes of the virus (NS5A and NS5B), responsible for the creation of new copies of the hepatitis C virus. Nevertheless, these drugs are not analogs, moreover, for each of them there are strict indications and schemes of administration.

The efficacy of Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C with virus genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 has been clinically substantiated. This drug is intended for complex treatment of hepatitis C, together with ribavirin and peginterferon alfa.

Harvoni (ledipasvir 90 mg and sofosbuvir 400 mg) is the only antiviral drug to date that can be used as monotherapy for hepatitis C. However, the efficacy of this medication has been proven only against genotype 1 of the virus.

High efficacy of therapy with antiviral agents of this group, low relapse rate and good tolerability of treatment make Sovaldi and Harvoni drugs in demand among patients with hepatitis C all over the world.