Promising potential treatment
PTSD expert Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, MD, chief of psychiatry at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, D.C., said the results suggest GLE/PIB is a promising potential treatment for PTSD.
“I definitely think this should be looked at further,” said Dr. Ritchie, who was not involved with the research.
She noted that current PTSD therapies have drawbacks. SSRIs have side effects, the most “troubling” being sexual dysfunction. And although cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective, “people have to stick with it” and studies show about two thirds of patients drop out, she said.
Potentially effective PTSD treatment approaches include “self-soothing” or “self-regulating” techniques such as exercise, meditation, yoga, and working with animals, she added.
Dr. Ritchie pointed out the numbers of participants in the study were relatively small, including two groups that had only 54 patients each.
And while the GLE/PIB combination should be explored further, cost, availability, and side effects of this medication need to be taken into consideration, she said.
Dr. Ritchie added she is not overly concerned that the mechanism of action for the combination on PTSD may not be well understood. She noted several psychiatric medications fall into that category, including electroconvulsive therapy and lithium.
“When lithium was first found to be effective against bipolar disorder, we had no clue why,” she said. “So I would not discount the antiviral based on us not knowing how it works.”
However, “we’re a long way off” from starting a patient with PTSD on an antiviral, said Dr. Ritchie, adding there are “a lot of steps to go through” to get FDA approval.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The cohort used for this study was developed through support from the Department of Defense. Dr. Shiner is a coinventor on a provisional patent application covering the use of glecaprevir, pibrentasvir, and velpatasvir for PTSD and other psychiatric indications. Dr. Ritchie reported no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.