Failed Treatment

Frequently Asked Questions

What if my treatment does not work?

Treatment is successful in more than 90% of people. There are still some people who will fail treatment.

Why does therapy in some people not succeed

Factors which make treatment less successful include:

  • Cirrhosis and decompensated liver disease
  • People who have failed therapy before can be more difficult to cure

Treating people who failed before are more likely to fail again if the same class of drug is used. This is because drug resistance has built up.

Some genotypes are more difficult to cure. For example, Genotype 3 which is associated with fat deposition in the liver is harder to cure than Genotype 2.

Much of the research we are doing is focused finding out how best to treat "hard to treat" patients.

If my treatment does not work, will my insurance cover the next treatment?

At this point, we do not know whether insurance will cover second line therapies especially if those therapies have not been proven to work in this situation.

Second line therapies are sometimes called rescue or salvage therapy. Such therapies usually involve drug treatment strategies to counter drug resistance and using new drug classes to overcome drug resistance.

Ruane Medical is actively engaged in clinical trials of rescue medications.