New Drugs Show Promise in Hepatitis C Fight
New Drugs Show Promise in Hepatitis C Fight
May 18, 2004 -- With current hepatitis C treatments, about half of all patients can now be cured -- that's great if you're in that half. Now, two novel therapies -- one conventional, one unconventional -- show promise for treating those people for whom standard medications fail.
"About one in four patients can't tolerate current hepatitis C drugs because of harsh side effects," says Harald Matthes, MD, medical director and chief of the department of gastroenterology at Havelhohe Hospital for Anthroposophically Extended Medicine in Berlin. "And there are other patients that just don't respond."
In one study, an experimental pill that prevents replication of the hepatitis C virus worked in more than 70% of patients for whom traditional measures failed.
In the other study, a novel agent made from compounds found in mistletoe and green tomatoes cured about half of patients who didn't respond to conventional therapy.
Both studies were presented here at Digestive Disease Week.
About 4 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C -- most of whom don't know it, according to the National Institutes of Health. That's because hepatitis C often causes few symptoms. The virus can be transmitted from an infected person by sharing needles or from an infected mother to her baby during birth. Alternatively, many have had the virus for years, having contracted it from a blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1992, when supplies began to be screened for the disease.
Despite its silence, hepatitis C can be deadly. According to Eliot W. Godofsky, MD, hepatitis C will be responsible for up to 30,000 deaths a year over the next decade. Godofsky is president and co-founder of Bach and Godofsky, the largest private infectious disease practice specializing in the treatment of viral hepatitis in the U.S., and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern Florida in Tampa.
"The good news is that despite popular misconceptions, hepatitis C is curable [for many patients]," he tells WebMD.
Standard treatment with the immune system-boosting drug interferon (known as Intron A, Pegasys, or Peg-Intron) and the antiviral drug ribavirin (known as Copegus and Rebetol; the combination drug is called Rebetron) achieves a "sustained response" in about 50% of people with the most common subtype of hepatitis C, he says. That means that the virus has been eliminated from their blood -- and doesn't return even after treatment is stopped.
"About one in four patients can't tolerate current hepatitis C drugs because of harsh side effects," says Harald Matthes, MD, medical director and chief of the department of gastroenterology at Havelhohe Hospital for Anthroposophically Extended Medicine in Berlin. "And there are other patients that just don't respond."
In one study, an experimental pill that prevents replication of the hepatitis C virus worked in more than 70% of patients for whom traditional measures failed.
In the other study, a novel agent made from compounds found in mistletoe and green tomatoes cured about half of patients who didn't respond to conventional therapy.
Both studies were presented here at Digestive Disease Week.
Most Unaware They Have Hepatitis C
About 4 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C -- most of whom don't know it, according to the National Institutes of Health. That's because hepatitis C often causes few symptoms. The virus can be transmitted from an infected person by sharing needles or from an infected mother to her baby during birth. Alternatively, many have had the virus for years, having contracted it from a blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1992, when supplies began to be screened for the disease.
Despite its silence, hepatitis C can be deadly. According to Eliot W. Godofsky, MD, hepatitis C will be responsible for up to 30,000 deaths a year over the next decade. Godofsky is president and co-founder of Bach and Godofsky, the largest private infectious disease practice specializing in the treatment of viral hepatitis in the U.S., and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Southern Florida in Tampa.
"The good news is that despite popular misconceptions, hepatitis C is curable [for many patients]," he tells WebMD.
Standard treatment with the immune system-boosting drug interferon (known as Intron A, Pegasys, or Peg-Intron) and the antiviral drug ribavirin (known as Copegus and Rebetol; the combination drug is called Rebetron) achieves a "sustained response" in about 50% of people with the most common subtype of hepatitis C, he says. That means that the virus has been eliminated from their blood -- and doesn't return even after treatment is stopped.
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