title: Medication use and medical comorbidity in patients with chronic hepatitis C from a US commercial claims database: high utilization of drugs with interaction potential.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With the advent of the direct-acting antiviral agents, significant drug-drug interaction (DDI) potential now exists for patients treated for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, little is known about how often patients with HCV infection use medications that may interact with newer HCV treatments, especially those with cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) DDI potential.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a large US commercial insurance database, medication use and comorbidity burden were examined among adult patients with a chronic HCV diagnosis from 2006 to 2010. Medications were examined in terms of total number of prescription claims, proportion of patients exposed, and DDI potential with the prototypical CYP3A direct-acting antiviral agents boceprevir and telaprevir, for which data were available.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patient comorbidity burden was high and increased over the study period. Medication use was investigated in 53 461 patients with chronic HCV. Twenty-one (53%) of the top 40 most utilized medications were classified as having interaction potential, with 62% of patients receiving at least one of the top 22 interacting medications by exposure. Of these, 59 and 41% were listed in a common DDI resource but not in medication-prescribing information, 77 and 77% had not been investigated in DDI studies, 41 and 36% did not have clear recommendations for DDI management, and only 14 and 23% carried a recommendation to avoid coadministration for boceprevir and telaprevir, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Practitioners may expect a medication with CYP3A DDI potential in two-thirds of patients with HCV and may expect almost one-half of the most frequently used medications to have CYP3A DDI potential. However, DDI potential may not be reflected in prescribing information.
authors.affiliation: aUNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy bUNC Liver Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Julie C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Lauffenburger
authors.forename: Christina L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Roy L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hawke
authors.forename: Kim L R
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Brouwer
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.forename: Joel F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Farley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001711:Biotransformation; D015897:Comorbidity; D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A / Q000378:metabolism; D065692:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004347:Drug Interactions; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019338:Polypharmacy; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D065692:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors; C104464:CYP3A protein, human; D051544:Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A