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On October 14, the American
Association for the Study of Liver Diseases posted a summary of the results of
a new clinical trial showing that an experimental all-oral drug regimen
developed by Abbott Laboratories suppressed the hepatitis C virus in most
patients. These results helped Abbott decide on a regimen based on three
experimental drugs that the company is moving into late-stage clinical trials.
Abbott hopes to sell the new hepatitis therapy in 2015. Abbott, Gilead Sciences
Inc., and others are accelerating the race to introduce the next generation of
drugs to treat hepatitis C—those that can be taken orally without the injection
component of the current standard, a treatment that patients have difficulty
tolerating.
The new study tested three
experimental Abbott drugs in a midstage clinical trial of 571 individuals with
hepatitis C. The trial tested various combinations of these drugs for varying
durations up to 24 weeks of treatment in patients, some of whom had undergone
prior treatment and others who were new to treatment. The study tracked the
virologic response—SVR12— in patients 12 weeks after the end of treatment.
Sustained virologic response is roughly equivalent to being virus-free or
having nearly undetectable viral levels.
Hepatitis C affects approximately
180 million people world-wide, with more than 4 million in the United States,
according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
