HEPATITIS C: A NEW ANTI-VIRAL DRUG SHOWS DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT IN THE TREATMENT

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Hepatitis C:  A New Anti-Viral Drug Shows Dramatic Improvement in the Treatment

World - Adding a direct acting anti-viral boceprevir drug to the standard treatment regimen for hepatitis C significantly increases the cure rate in the most difficult to treat patients, according to a research report published in the online edition of the Journal The Lancet. The research team, led by Paul Kwo, M.D., of Indiana University School of Medicine, reported that adding the drug nearly doubled the treatment's effectiveness when given for 48 weeks in one treatment arm of the study.

The treatment used so far to fight against hepatitis C is a combination of two drugs: ribavirin and pegylated interferon. In sixty-seven hospitals around the world, in Europe, the United States and Canada, patients have tested a new treatment, which adds boceprevir both antiviral above. The study further showed that this drug can double the rate of healing.

This test was conducted on patients infected with genotype 1 hepatitis C, that is to say most dangerous, because the more recalcitrant to treatment. This study is great news for all carriers of the virus, which represent over 170 million people worldwide and at risk of developing liver cancer or cirrhosis.

Story Source:
Materials provided by Indiana University School of Medicine.

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