New treatments for chronic hepatitis C.
10.3350/kjhep.2010.16.3.263
- Author:
Jae Young JANG
1
;
Raymond T CHUNG
Author Information
1. Institute for Digestive Research, Digestive Disease Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Review
- Keywords:
Treatments;
Chronic Hepatitis C
- MeSH:
Antiviral Agents/*therapeutic use;
DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism;
Hepatitis C, Chronic/*drug therapy;
Humans;
Interferons/therapeutic use;
Nucleotides/chemistry/therapeutic use;
Protease Inhibitors/*therapeutic use;
Viral Nonstructural Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism;
Virus Internalization/drug effects
- From:The Korean Journal of Hepatology
2010;16(3):263-277
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Treatments for chronic hepatitis C has evolved significantly in the past 15 years. The standard of care (SOC) is peginterferon alfa-2a/-2b with ribavirin for 48 weeks or 24 weeks in patients infected with HCV genotype 1 or 2/3, respectively. The treatment duration can be individualized based on the baseline viral load and the speed of the virologic response during treatment. However, current therapies are associated with side effects, complications, and poor patient tolerability. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify better strategies for treating this disease. An improved sustained virologic response (SVR) can be achieved with new HCV-specific inhibitors against NS3/4A and NS5B polymerases. Recent trials have found SVR rates in patients with HCV genotype 1 infection of 61~68% and 67~75% for combining the SOC with the protease inhibitors telaprevir and boceprevir, respectively. Several new HCV-specific inhibitors such as protease inhibitors and nucleoside and non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors as well as non-HCV-specific compounds with anti-HCV activity are currently in clinical evaluation. In this review we discuss these new treatments for chronic hepatitis C.
