[New era of the treatment against hepatitis C virus]

Nihon Rinsho. 2015 Feb;73(2):317-21.
[Article in Japanese]

Abstract

Interferon (IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) have remained as key drugs in the treatment against hepatitis C virus (HCV) for a past decade. Although the IFN and RBV based therapy has been greatly improved, indication of the IFN based therapy is limited because of its side effects. Thus, new types of drugs against HCV have been awaited. Now many direct acting antivirals (DAAs) targeting protease, NS5A and polymerase of HCV have been developed and many clinical trials with new DAAs are ongoing. Furthermore, some of the trials have already shown outstanding results with high curative rate reaching almost 100% and very low rate of adverse events. The IFN free regimens with new DAAs would completely change the treatment against HCV.

MeSH terms

  • Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Hepatitis C, Chronic / drug therapy*
  • Humans
  • Protease Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors

Substances

  • Antiviral Agents
  • Protease Inhibitors
  • Viral Nonstructural Proteins
  • NS-5 protein, hepatitis C virus