Two new treatment combinations show promise for eradicating Hepatitis C. NBC Nightly News (3/30, story 8, 0:35, Williams) reported, "News tonight about Hepatitis C. ... A new drug expected to be available in the next few months doubles the cure rate when given along with two other drugs that are already prescribed." The Detroit Free Press (3/30, Anstett) reported that an estimated "4 million Americans" have hepatitis C virus (HCV), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But two new "drug-treatment options" promise a "possible cure from the liver disease." Both Merck & Co. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals expect to hear within the next two months whether federal regulators will allow them to "distribute the drugs that make up three-drug cocktails shown effective in eradicating" HCV. The combinations add either "Merck's boceprevir or Vertex's telaprevir to interferon and ribavirin." Both companies "already have fast-track status from the Food and Drug Administration." According to the Los Angeles Times (3/30, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog, positive results of "two clinical trials with boceprevir were reported Wednesday in two papers" in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM); and similar results with telaprevir were "expected to be reported Thursday at a European liver meeting. ... 'What's particularly exciting about these medications is that they address a very big unmet need...of antiviral therapy in African Americans,'" said Dr. Sammy Saab from UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Saab, who was not involved in the research, said blacks respond "much more poorly than whites" to existing HCV treatments, but the new drugs "sharply reduce that disparity." WebMD (3/30, Boyles) reported that in one NEJM study, "66% of previously untreated patients treated with the three-drug regimen of boceprevir, peginterferon, and ribavirin cleared the virus for good, compared to 38% of patients treated with peginterferon and ribavirin alone." In the other study in NEJM, 75% of patients treated for "44 weeks achieved sustained viral clearances, compared to 29% of patients who got a second round of peginterferon and ribavirin." The outcomes were "similar to those seen in phase III trials of telaprevir." HealthDay (3/30, Reinberg) noted, "Commenting on the studies, Dr. Donald M. Jensen, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center and author of an accompanying journal editorial, said 'there is a significant improvement in sustained response [with boceprevir], which really relates to cure of hepatitis C.'"
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Hepatitis C Treatment
Two new treatment combinations show promise for eradicating Hepatitis C. NBC Nightly News (3/30, story 8, 0:35, Williams) reported, "News tonight about Hepatitis C. ... A new drug expected to be available in the next few months doubles the cure rate when given along with two other drugs that are already prescribed." The Detroit Free Press (3/30, Anstett) reported that an estimated "4 million Americans" have hepatitis C virus (HCV), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But two new "drug-treatment options" promise a "possible cure from the liver disease." Both Merck & Co. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals expect to hear within the next two months whether federal regulators will allow them to "distribute the drugs that make up three-drug cocktails shown effective in eradicating" HCV. The combinations add either "Merck's boceprevir or Vertex's telaprevir to interferon and ribavirin." Both companies "already have fast-track status from the Food and Drug Administration." According to the Los Angeles Times (3/30, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog, positive results of "two clinical trials with boceprevir were reported Wednesday in two papers" in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM); and similar results with telaprevir were "expected to be reported Thursday at a European liver meeting. ... 'What's particularly exciting about these medications is that they address a very big unmet need...of antiviral therapy in African Americans,'" said Dr. Sammy Saab from UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Saab, who was not involved in the research, said blacks respond "much more poorly than whites" to existing HCV treatments, but the new drugs "sharply reduce that disparity." WebMD (3/30, Boyles) reported that in one NEJM study, "66% of previously untreated patients treated with the three-drug regimen of boceprevir, peginterferon, and ribavirin cleared the virus for good, compared to 38% of patients treated with peginterferon and ribavirin alone." In the other study in NEJM, 75% of patients treated for "44 weeks achieved sustained viral clearances, compared to 29% of patients who got a second round of peginterferon and ribavirin." The outcomes were "similar to those seen in phase III trials of telaprevir." HealthDay (3/30, Reinberg) noted, "Commenting on the studies, Dr. Donald M. Jensen, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center and author of an accompanying journal editorial, said 'there is a significant improvement in sustained response [with boceprevir], which really relates to cure of hepatitis C.'"
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