Drug Shows Promise Against Hepatitis C

Studies: Drug Shows Promise Against Hepatitis C

Abstract
The results of two recent studies of an experimental drug raise new hopes in the fight against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The findings suggest the drug, telaprevir, can cut treatment time from a year to six months and raise the proportion of patients considered cured. Currently the standard treatment for hepatitis C is combination therapy with peginterferon and ribavirin. In the two studies, about two-thirds of patients who received telaprevir for six months showed no signs of HCV six months later, which doctors consider being cured. Only 40 to 50 percent of patients are cured by standard treatment alone. One study involved 250 US patients with chronic HCV. Sixty-one percent who took standard therapy with telaprevir for six months cleared the virus, compared to 41 who took standard therapy only. Sixty-seven percent who took the new drug and standard therapy for one year showed no signs of infection. Of note, however: Twice as many patients in the telaprevir group stopped treatment due to side effects. The second study involved 334 patients in Europe. After six months, 69 percent of patients on standard therapy and telaprevir had undetectable levels of HCV compared to 46 percent of patients who received standard therapy only. Shorter treatment times did not show benefit in either study. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. makes telaprevir and sponsored both studies. “Telaprevir appears to be a material advance in the therapy of hepatitis C, beginning a new era of treatment,” Dr. Jay H. Hoofnagle of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases wrote in an editorial accompanying the studies. “The new drug does show promise,” acknowledged hepatitis expert Dr. James Ou of the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, though he added, “its side effects remain a concern.” Telaprevir is in late-stage testing; Vertex plans to seek government approval of it next year. The studies, “Telaprevir with Peginterferon and Ribavirin for Chronic HCV Genotype 1 Infection” and “Telaprevir and Peginterferon with or Without Ribavirin for Chronic HCV Infection,” and the editorial, “A Step Forward in Therapy for Hepatitis C,” were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2009;360(18):1827-1838, 1839-1850, and 1899-1901).

Source
http://www.ap.org/

Date of Publication
04/29/2009


Author
Alicia Chang

Subjects
Hepatitis C
Studies or Surveys
Therapeutic Drugs
Treatment
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