Korean J Hepatol.  2010 Sep;16(3):263-277. 10.3350/kjhep.2010.16.3.263.

New treatments for chronic hepatitis C

• Jang JY
• Chung RT

• KMID: 1717320
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3350/kjhep.2010.16.3.263

Abstract

Treatments for chronic hepatitis C has evolved significantly in the past 15 years. The standard of care (SOC) is peginterferon alfa-2a/-2b with ribavirin for 48 weeks or 24 weeks in patients infected with HCV genotype 1 or 2/3, respectively. The treatment duration can be individualized based on the baseline viral load and the speed of the virologic response during treatment. However, current therapies are associated with side effects, complications, and poor patient tolerability. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify better strategies for treating this disease. An improved sustained virologic response (SVR) can be achieved with new HCV-specific inhibitors against NS3/4A and NS5B polymerases. Recent trials have found SVR rates in patients with HCV genotype 1 infection of 61~68% and 67~75% for combining the SOC with the protease inhibitors telaprevir and boceprevir, respectively. Several new HCV-specific inhibitors such as protease inhibitors and nucleoside and non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors as well as non-HCV-specific compounds with anti-HCV activity are currently in clinical evaluation. In this review we discuss these new treatments for chronic hepatitis C.

Keyword

Treatments; Chronic Hepatitis C

MeSH Terms

Antiviral Agents/*therapeutic use
DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism
Hepatitis C, Chronic/*drug therapy
Humans
Interferons/therapeutic use
Nucleotides/chemistry/therapeutic use
Protease Inhibitors/*therapeutic use
Viral Nonstructural Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors/metabolism
Virus Internalization/drug effects