Background Treatments for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection have vastly improved over the past few decades with current regimens now offering pangenotypic activity with excellent cure rates reported in clinical trials, including in the HIV-HCV coinfected population. However, there is some concern that stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria in the trials may lead to results that are not achievable in real-world populations. Methods Our study evaluated a real-world HIV-HCV coinfected population and compared them to the eligibility criteria for trials of two of the most recent approved HCV agents; sofosbuvir/velpatasvir and glecaprevir/pibrentasvir. Results Our study included 219 HIV-HCV coinfected patients and found that 89% met exclusion criteria for the sofosbuvir/velpatasvir trial and 90% met exclusion criteria for the glecaprevir/pibrentasvir trial. The majority of patients met more than one exclusion criteria with the most frequent criteria for exclusion being a non-approved ART regimen (58 and 47% respectively), having a psychiatric disorder (52%), active alcohol or injection drug use (27%), having an HIV viral load > 50 copies/ml (15%), a CrCl < 60 ml/min (13%) and a history of decompensated cirrhosis (13%). Conclusion Although the newer Hepatitis C treatments are very effective, the real world HIV-HCV coinfected population often have comorbidities and other characteristics that make them ineligible for clinical trials, such that they are barriers to treatment. These barriers need to be recognized and addressed in order to optimize treatment outcomes in the HIV patient population.

Treatment for chronic viral hepatitis C has advanced dramatically to current standard of care all-oral direct-acting antiviral regimens with relatively short treatment duration and high efficacy. Patients with comorbid end-stage renal disease have constituted a "special patient population" with data and treatment options lagging behind that of the broader population of patients with chronic hepatitis C until recently. Herein we review the current evidence base for direct-acting antiviral therapy in this population. We provide a suggested algorithm for the evaluation of such patients for therapy. We highlight special considerations in regards to the choice of regimen, duration, and timing in regards to potential kidney transplantation.

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