Managing Hepatitis C in Addiction Care Centers: Results of the French Real‐Life <scp>NéoVie</scp> Study

NéoVie primary objective was to describe the care pathway of patients with HCV infection treated in addiction centres in France, by evaluating the rate of treatments initiated among these patients and to identify obstacles to treatment initiation. Multicentric, prospective, non-interventional study conducted in France from May 2020 to July 2022. Inclusion criteria were age > 18 years, positive HCV RNA, follow up in a participating addiction centre. Direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment was initiated at the discretion of the investigators. Patients initiating glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) treatment were followed for up to 11 months after treatment initiation. Data were collected through specific questionnaires. 32 centres participated in the study and 18 were active. Among the 93 patients included, 89 (95.7%) were treated with a DAA (77 (82.8%) with G/P). After G/P treatment initiation, all but 2 (which were reinfections) achieved SVR 12 and maintained virological response 6 months later. No AEs with a frequency > 3% were reported. Significant improvements were observed between inclusion and 11 months after in terms of quality of life (mean improvement of 6.78 ± 21.53 pts (VAS)) and anxiety and depression (10/37; 27.0% of the patients). These results suggest that once efforts are made in the centre to apply the simplified pathway, it is possible to treat and cure patients with DAA. In order to achieve HCV elimination goal, efforts to promote treatment should continue focusing on training and motivating addiction centres.