When individuals with hepatitis C need a second round of treatment, adding the new antiviral drug boceprevir to standard therapy can boost their response, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Here is some information about hepatitis C:
• It is a virus that infects the liver
• It is difficult to eradicate the hepatitis C virus from the body
• Long-term infection with hepatitis C can lead to liver damage or even liver failure
Researchers from Saint Louis University School of Medicine randomly assigned over 400 patients with hepatitis C who had been treated in the past but whose illness either did not respond adequately to treatment or reemerged following treatment to one of three groups. The first group received standard treatment with two drugs known as peginterferon and ribavirin. The second group received this same treatment, but boceprevir was added for part or all of the treatment period, depending on how well the patients responded. The third group received all three drugs for the entire treatment period.
Sustained suppression of the hepatitis C virus was seen in about three times as many patients whose treatment regimen included boceprevir, compared with those who did not receive this drug. Patients who in the past had relapsed after standard therapy with peginterferon and ribavirin and who then received a treatment regimen that included boceprevir had a sustained response to their therapy of up to 75%. If patients responded well to boceprevir early in the treatment period, a shorter duration of therapy with this drug appeared to be about as beneficial as a longer one.
Today's research provides a new option for individuals suffering from hepatitis C virus infection that does not appear to respond long-term to standard treatment.
New drug shows promise for Hepatitis C
Adding the new drug Boceprevir to the current two-drug treatment for Hepatitis C appears to boost patients more than standard therapy.
NBC's Brian Williams reports.
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