Treatment of Hepatitis C virus infection in Italy: A consensus report from an expert panel

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains one of the main causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. The advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) has significantly improved the course of patients with chronic HCV infection (CHC), due to the ability of these drugs to achieve high rates of sustained virological response (SVR). These exceedingly high rates of SVR and the excellent safety data have been confirmed in real life practice. Evolving guidelines have been issued by national and international scientific societies in accordance with the progression of clinical knowledge and the availability of new DAAs. These recommendations, however, may not be applied universally because of delays in drugs reimbursability in different countries and because some National Health Systems identify only patients with advanced disease as a treatment priority. Italy in this regard is a prototype about DAAs treatment of CHC patients. With the aim to assess the Italian treatment experience with DAAs and to respond to unmet needs in treatment optimization of antiviral therapy in specific settings of CHC patients, a group of Italian experts met in Stresa in February 2017. The summary of the considerations arising from this two-day meeting and some statements regarding a few open issues are reported in this position paper.