Hepatitis Cis one of the most important causes of liver disease, such as cirrhosis or liver cancer. 230,000 people are believed to be carriers of the virus in France. Treatments exist to cure the disease, and research has made great strides in recent years in uncovering new antiviral molecules. While work has shown that the combination of two or three of these molecules gives cure rates between 80 and 100%, a new study highlights the effectiveness of a treatment combining an antiviral and an experimental drug.
This discovery comes from the United States, where hepatitis C causes 15,000 deaths each year. Dr Shyam Kottilil, of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has successfully tested the combination of the antiviral ribavirin and sofosbuvir, an experimental molecule developed by the US laboratory Gilead on patients with chronic hepatitis C. . This treatment taken orally for six months resulted in a cure rate of 70% and was well tolerated by patients with hepatitis C virus genotype 1, most of whom had damaged liver. Of the sixty participants, 50 were blacks, a population more infected with the virus and less healing than patients with white skin.
The findings of this clinical trial represent a breakthrough for researchers, as genotype 1 and black people generally respond less well to conventional treatments. These consist of weekly injections of interferon-alpha and the antiviral ribavirin added to another drug. “This result is encouraging especially since the high proportion of volunteers had a profile that made them poorly respond to existing treatments such as being a man, being infected with a genotype 1 virus, being black and to have a very damaged liver, “said Dr. Shyam Kottilil, quoted by AFP.
The current treatment for hepatitis C can last for a year, compared to only six months in the American experience.
In addition, while the new combination tested was well supported by the study participants, the existing treatments lead to sometimes serious side effects such as depression, flu-like symptoms or anemia.
