New Drug To Curb Hepatitis C

New Drug To Curb Hepatitis C.
The recently approved antidepressant Incivek, combined with two precept drugs, is highly effective at treating hepatitis C, a notoriously difficult-to-manage liver disease, two unusual studies show. The numb works not only in patients just starting treatment, but in those who failed earlier treatment, the research found. The hepatitis C virus can slink in the body for years, causing liver damage, cirrhosis and even liver failure. "This is a significant deposit in the treatment of hepatitis C," said Dr David Bernstein, premier of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset NY, who was not active in either study.

And "We know that if we can get rid of the hepatitis C, we can enjoin the progression of liver disease. This means we can prevent the progression of cirrhosis, we can prevent the development of cancer and also baulk the need for liver transplantation in a large number of people".

Incivek (telaprevir) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in May and is the secondly drug in a class of drugs called protease inhibitors to be approved to warfare hepatitis C The other drug, called Victrelis (boceprevir), was also approved in May. The example treatment for hepatitis C has been a combination of two drugs, pegylated-interferon and ribavirin, which are given for a year.

If protease inhibitors such as Incivek are added to the mix, the "viral cure" speed improves and the therapy time is reduced to six months, researchers found. Both reports were published in the June 23 online version of the New England Journal of Medicine.

In one study, a Phase 3 distress known as ADVANCE, patients were randomly assigned to either a placebo or the curing in a double-blind study, which means that neither the patients nor the researchers know who's getting the drug and who's getting a artificial treatment. This type of study is considered the gold standard for clinical research.

In the ADVANCE trial, 1088 patients with hepatitis C who had never been treated for the shape were randomly assigned to recognized therapy for 48 weeks, or telaprevir combined with standard therapy for eight or for 12 weeks, followed by mean therapy alone for a total treatment time of either 24 or 48 weeks. The researchers found that 79 percent of those receiving Incivek for the longest spell (24 weeks) had a "sustained response," which basically means their hepatitis C was contained.