Daclatasvir And Sofosbuvir Drug Combo Effective For Hepatitis C
By Cyndi Root
Researchers at John Hopkins University announced in a press release that a combination of daclatasvir and sofosbuvir is safe and effective for treating Hepatitis C. The drugs are taken orally and cure the liver damaging disease. The new treatment offers patients fewer pills or injections to take and reduced side effects. The experimental drug combination cured even the hard to treat cases, those not responding to “triple drug therapy.” The study and results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The two year study was financed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences.
Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C kills more people than HIV/AIDS in the U.S. An infectious disease, it is a virus that causes liver damage. Symptoms range from mild to serious and can last weeks, a lifetime, or end fatally. The World Health Organization reports that 150 million people worldwide contract the virus and more than 350 thousand die each year. Transmission occurs when a person is exposed to infected blood and organ transplants. Contaminated needles in healthcare settings and in recreational drug use are often the culprit. Children born of Hepatitis C-infected mothers and sexual partners of Hepatitis C-infected people often acquire the disease.
Hepatitis C incubates for two weeks to six months. Symptoms present as decreased appetite, fever, fatigue, joint pain, jaundice, nausea, vomiting, grey feces, or dark urine. About 60% develop chronic liver disease including cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that only five percent of people in the U.S. with Hepatitis C have been cured, which this new drug combo promises to remedy.
Johns Hopkins Study
Mark Sulkowski, M.D., medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Viral Hepatitis and the lead author said, “This research paves the way for safe, tolerable and effective treatment options for the vast majority of those infected with hepatitis C.” The clinical study included 211 women and men at 18 medical centers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. 98% of the patients with the most common strain (genotype 1) were cured. Researchers found no trace of the virus in the bloodstream three months after treatment. Less common strains in the U.S., genotypes 2 and 3, saw similar cure rates.
The dose was 60 milligrams of daclatasvir and 400 milligrams of sofosbuvir. The FDA recently approved sofosbuvir in combination with peginterferon and ribavirin for the treatment of genotype 1. The FDA has not yet approved daclatasvir.
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