How did you decide which medication to take for hep C treatment?

Hi Matt,
These are great questions I am often asked by patients and their families.
My treatment decisions were based on my liver condition and genotype (virus strain) of hep C. We also discussed side effects of each treatment and how well I may do. My healthcare team, and I worked together as a team but ultimately the decision was mine on which treatment. Once my treatment was approved from my insurance company, we had the green light to begin. I prepared a list of questions before meeting with my doctor and specialty pharmacy about treatment so that I could understand what to expect from treatment. I found preparing well helped tremendously. To all Hep C warriors out there, never give up. Keep fighting the good fight. There is life beyond hepatitis C. Connie-Author/Moderator @Hepatitisc.net

I didn’t have a choice in treatments as I was in a clinical trial for Viekira Pak. But if I were doing treatment with my doctor I would have gone with whatever treatment he chose for me. I trusted his expertise and he had taken good care of me with all my interferon experiences that did not work for me. That wasn’t the fault of his choice, interferon did not work for most of us. No one knows my medical history better than my doc.

I have been cured of Hep C since August of 2016. I remember while preparing for treatment and going through all the preliminary steps and procedures I was curious about which option I was going to get. So between what my Doctor thought, what my Ins. Co. would allow and what possible side effects I could get, we chose Zepatiar. I NEVER had any side effects and at my 2 week blood test, I was Completely virus FREE. Of course, I completed the 12 weeks and it was a breeze.I am so Fortunate that I was able to afford this drug because what I paid out of pocket was NOT cheap, but that does depend on your income. Best decision I ever made.

I took Viekira Pak like Susan did. In 2015 I only had 2 choices, Harvoni or Viekira Pak, & Harvoni was an apparent no-go from the beginning, but I think it worked out for a reason because AbbVie became my biggest advocate & strongest ally in my fight against my state insurance that, at that time period, was refusing to even consider either treatment including when AbbVie told them they would be paying for every expense for me. It turned into a war pretty fast, but AbbVie didn't back down (& neither did my doctor, which also like Susan I trusted my doctor) so after months of fighting & having to go through things like a liver biopsy when AbbVie specifically told my insurance that there was no reason to make me have to go through such a thing, my state insurance (& my current governor at that time who felt the need to send me 3 separate letters telling me I'm not going to get any cure regardless of what I did) officially exhausted anymore road blocks to try stopping AbbVie from giving me their cure or me from receiving it. It became a big deal in my area of my state, other doctors took notice that they were fighting against the wrong company & they started going through AbbVie's patient assistance program after hearing I had won & that AbbVie fought so hard for me. People in my area were finally getting cured after me & to this day I still see people with AbbVie's newer cure Mavyret, including a close friend of mine who has had hep c for 15yrs or so & was officially cured of hep c just this last month. =]