New Hepatitis C Treatment Option For Liver Cirrhosis Victims

A new non-interferon based treatment option for Hepatitis C has proven extremely effective, with a 90 percent cure rate in trial testing, according to a recent study.

 The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, details the success rate of an alternative to interferon-containing regimens for the treatment of the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Solvaldi (sofosbuvir), a new interferon-free hepatitis C drug that just hit the United Sates market, has received a massive amount press due to its near 100 percent cure rate when coupled with other drugs. It has also earned an equal amount of infamy due to the fact that the $84,000 to $168,000 treatment cannot possibly be afforded by a significant potion of patients suffering from HCV.

However, there is another roadblock that some HCV patients will face when trying to get their hands on this "cure."

Liver cirrhoses -- a scarring of the liver that interferes with the liver's ability to filter toxins from the bloodstream -- can cause significant difficulties for HCV patients who need to take a compound treatment option, particularly in the cases where Solvadi is paired with pegylated interferon.

Interferon can have serious adverse effects of an HCV patient whose liver cannot filter toxins efficiently, as interferon can be particularly toxic.

Now however, there is a new option for HCV patients suffering from serious cirrhosis.

In an open-label phase three trial, a interferon-free combination of ritonavir, ombitasvir, and ribavirin was given in either a 12 or 24 week treatment to 380 HCV patients suffering from advancing liver cirrhosis.

According to the trial's results, 191 of 208 patients who received the 12 week treatment appeared to be free of  HCV by the end of the trial with little-to-no toxic adverse effects. Of the 172 patients who received the 24 week treatment, 165 appeared to be free of the virus.

With these positive results, the authors of the study expect the new treatment alternative to interferon to be made available around late 2014 or early 2015.

The results of the trail were published in The New England Journal of Medicine on April 19.