a new treatment manages to cure 7 of every 10 patients of hepatitis C and reduce the duration of the therapy.
– telaprevir, inhibitor of the protease, has proved effective when combined with routine treatment for hepatitis C, making up 70% of healings.
– the duration of the treatment could be reduced from 1 year to 6 months in patients who demonstrate a positive in the first 4 weeks.
Spain, 2011-July Hepatólogos of the Hospital del Mar and the IMIM Institut of research of the Hospital of the sea, they have participated in the study Advance, the results of which have been published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine. The study evaluates the results of a clinical trial in phase III of a new drug for the treatment of hepatitis C, the Telaprevir.This drug, when combined with the classical treatment Pegylated and Ribavirin, interferon has shown to improve its effectiveness in patients with genotype 1, the subgroup more frequent, since 70 per cent of those affected by hepatitis C in Europe have this genotype and at the same time the most difficult to cure. The drug has already received approval from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in United States and shortly, will receive the European and national consent.This new drug will also involve the reduction of the time of treatment, from 1 year to 6 months in patients who receive a positive response in the first 4 weeks.
a new treatment for hepatitis C.
the study Advance of multi-faceted character, which has included a total of 1088 patients who had previously received no treatment, was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of telaprevir (protease inhibitor), and at the same time, to help establish best patterns administration.
the telepravir associated with the treatment of hepatitis C known up to now, the pegylated interferon and Ribavirin, confirmed positive results in relation to virological response in patients with hepatitis C with genotype 1, who had not received previous treatment and allowed only to obtain response with 24 weeks of treatment. hepatitis C genotype 1 is the most common and is also the most difficult to cure. Thanks to the new drugs can increase the effectiveness of treatment and, in some cases, reduce its duration. If before there was a 40-45% response rate, we are now moving between 69 and 75% ”, explains Dr. Ricard Solà , Chief of the section of hepatology of the Hospital of the sea, researcher at the IMIM and one of the authors of this article.
the study has confirmed an optimal response of viral suppression and low rates of relapse after stopping the treatment. In this sense, these results point to the possibility of reducing the time of treatment from one year to 24 weeks in patients who have a rapid response. An improvement in terms of virological response sustained, i.e., the number of patients that eliminated the virus during treatment and until 6 months after it has been confirmed. When you get this milestone can be said that the patient is cured and therefore stops the disease progression to cirrhosis or liver cancer ”, explains Dr. Solà . new drug for hepatitis C, telaprevir i boceprevir, increase the effectiveness of the treatment but have a high economic cost and determine more side effects. For this reason, in Catalonia, are working to establish appropriate and common criteria in order to rationalize their use in daily clinical practice ”.
epidemiology of hepatitis C.
hepatitis C is an infection caused by a virus that is detected in the blood of the people who the suffering. in the European Union, the prevalence of hepatitis C lies between 2 and 3% of the population. The acute virus C infection is often asymptomatic and may cronificar in 50-70% of cases. Chronic hepatitis C patients have a higher risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer. Treatments that had been made during the last decade with interferon Pegylated and Ribavirin had given a 40-50% cure rate in patients with genotipo1.
