Hepatitis C can be cured in people with compensated cirrhosis—when the liver is still able to function despite scarring—although treatment is less effective for people with serious liver damage, and the side effects may be worse, making treatment more difficult to tolerate. Adding a protease inhibitor increases cure rates among people with cirrhosis, even if they have already been unsuccessfully treated for hepatitis C in the past. However, null responders with cirrhosis are unlikely to be cured by triple therapy; adding Incivek to pegylated interferon and ribavirin increased cure rates in this group from 10 percent to 14 percent.

For first-time treatment takers with bridging fibrosis (pre-cirrhosis) and compensated cirrhosis, adding Victrelis to pegylated interferon and ribavirin increased cure rates from 39 percent to 50 percent. Triple therapy with pegylated interferon, ribavirin and Incivek increased cure rates among people with bridging fibrosis and cirrhosis from 33 percent to 53 to 62 percent; cure rates with Incivek-based triple therapy were even higher for people who had an early response (undetectable hepatitis C viral load at weeks 4 and 12) ranging from 82 percent to 88 percent.