Research Fuels Hope For Hard-To-Treat Hepatitis C Patients

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07 Dec 2010

The outlook for patients with hepatitis C continues to improve as

results from a clinical trial led by a Saint Louis University

researcher found that the drug boceprevir helped cure hard-to-treat

patients. The findings were reported at the 61st annual meeting of

the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease's earlier in

November.

Bruce R. Bacon, M.D., professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis

University School of Medicine and co-principal investigator of the

HCV RESPOND-2 study, studied the protease inhibitor, boceprevir, and

found that it significantly increased the number of patients whose

blood had undetectable levels of the virus.

"These findings are especially significant for patients who don't

respond to initial treatment," said Bacon. "When the hepatitis C

virus is not eliminated, debilitating fatigue and more serious

problems can follow."

Hepatitis C is caused by a virus that is transmitted by contact with

blood. The infection may initially be asymptomatic, but for patients

who develop chronic hepatitis C infection, inflammation of the liver

may develop, leading to fibrosis and cirrhosis (scarring of the

liver), as well as other complications including liver cancer and

death.

The prognosis varies for patients with chronic hepatitis C. With the

current standard therapy, about half fully recover after an initial

course of peginterferon and ribavirin anti-viral therapy that may

last from six months to a year.

The remaining patients, known as non-responders, may improve with

initial treatment but the virus is not eliminated, or may not

respond to treatment at all.

For this group, the only current option is to retreat patients with

the same or similar drugs, which increases the likelihood of severe

treatment side-effects. In addition, researchers have found that the

success of treatment depends on the major strain, or genotype, of

hepatitis C that a patient has.

The HCV RESPOND-2 study looked at 403 patients with chronic

hepatitis C infections with genotype one, the most difficult strain

of the virus to treat, who still had significant levels of the virus

after being treated with peginterferon and ribavirin, the standard

hepatitis C treatment.

"These results are very exciting," Bacon said. "In this study,

boceprevir helped cure significantly more patients in 24 weeks of

therapy than did treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin alone."

A second study, HCV SPRINT-2, examined patients with hepatitis C

with genotype one who had not yet been treated with the standard

treatment. They, too, responded well to the drug.

Bacon calls the progress made in treating hepatitis C remarkable.

"We've gone from the discovery of the virus in 1989 to where we are

now, 22 years later, when we have the ability to cure a large

majority of those with hepatitis C," Bacon said. "It's a true

success story."

"Drugs like boceprevir are going to revolutionize care of those with

hepatitis C."

The clinical trial was funded by Merck, which expects to begin

seeking FDA approval this year.

Source: Saint Louis University Medical Center

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/210422.php

Main News Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis

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Bill Eastman

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