Access to affordable
HCV direct acting antiviral regimens for people who inject drugs should be a major focus to harness this potential prevention capacity.»
Not exact matches
As treatments for
HCV have evolved, genotype 3 patients have become the most difficult subgroup of patients to cure.1 Although there have been recent advances in
direct -
acting antiviral therapies for
HCV genotype 1, genotype 3 remains a challenge and is a highly prevalent strain of the infection globally, with a particularly high concentration of cases in Asia.1
While the once - daily dosing, low side - effects profile, and shortened treatment duration of interferon - free
direct -
acting antivirals are ideal for injection drug users, most trials of these therapies for
HCV have excluded persons with recent injection drug use.
Treatment options for
HCV genotype 1 are evolving rapidly from interferon - based regimens to all - oral,
direct -
acting antiviral only regimens.
In two studies appearing in the May 5 issue of JAMA, patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (
HCV) genotype 1 infection and with or without cirrhosis achieved high rates of sustained virologic response after 12 weeks of treatment with a combination of the
direct -
acting - antiviral drugs daclatasvir, asunaprevir, and beclabuvir.
A new
HCV infection is effectively treated with
direct -
acting antiviral drugs, but the researchers say a preventive vaccine is needed to control what they call an
HCV pandemic because as many as 50 percent of people infected are unaware that they carry the virus, putting others at risk of infection.
While
direct -
acting antivirals have been used to treat and cure adult patients with
HCV, until now children have been mainly treated for 24 to 48 weeks with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin (RBV), an older treatment which causes severe side effects.
«
Direct -
acting antivirals have transformed the treatment of adults with chronic
HCV, however, studies of these new therapies in children are required,» said Dr Karen Murray, University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children's, Seattle, United States, and lead author of the study.
«These data establish the use of the oral
direct -
acting antivirals as an important treatment option in
HCV - infected children aged six to 11 years old.»
Ongoing clinical trials with 20 other so - called
direct -
acting antivirals have had even more impressive results against
HCV, and researchers have high hopes that curing this devastating disease will become routine — but only if people know they are infected and seek treatment.
These first - generation
direct -
acting antivirals are the first of many
direct acting antiviral drugs which will revolutionise treatment for
HCV patients, including those who failed to respond to previous therapies.
Interim data presented today at The International Liver Congress 2015 from the
HCV - TARGET study show that all - oral,
direct -
acting antiviral therapy for hepatitis C (
HCV) is well tolerated and highly effective in patients...