New drug cures hard-to-treat hep C

In the trial, when the drug telaprevir was added to standard treatment with peginterferon alfa and ribavirin [1]An antiviral drug which is effective against a range of viruses including herpes, the hepatitis C virus and several strains of influenza. , about half of patients who had failed previous treatment with the two drugs cleared the virus [2]A small infective organism which is incapable of reproducing outside a host cell..

The patients showed no evidence of HCV [3]Hepatitis C virus. infection six months after completing treatment, which is considered a cure.

Telaprevir is one of two highly anticipated drugs in the protease inhibitor [4]A type of anti-HIV drug that works by preventing the production of an enzyme, protease, that HIV needs to replicate. class being studied in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection.