REVIEWS  VIRAL DISEASES 

Minerva Medica 2009 December;100(6):459-65

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C

Bihl F. ¹, Negro F. ^{1, 2} ✉

¹ Divisions of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Geneva, Switzerland 2 Clinical Pathology, University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland

Treatment for chronic hepatitis C has changed over the past years achieving higher response rates. The combination treatment with pegylated interferon-a and ribavirin is tailored based on the on-treatment virological responses. With this response-guided therapy, the overall sustained virological response rate is about 55%. Many new antivirals are currently under investigation and some will be commercially available in the near future. These include antiviral molecules acting directly against the hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication machinery, such as the inhibitors of the viral protease, and agents binding to host cofactors of the viral replication, thereby inhibiting HCV in an indirect way (such as cyclophilin inhibitors and nitazoxanide). The advent of these drugs will further ameliorate response rates and facilitate the permanent cure of chronic hepatitis C.