3-Drug Combo May Treat Hepatitis C

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3-Drug Combo May Treat Hepatitis C    Studies Show Boceprevir or Telaprevir Help Patients When Added to Standard Treatment
                            By                         Salynn  Boyles
WebMD Health News
                            Reviewed by                         Laura J. Martin, MD
   
                 
    March 30, 2011 -- Two highly anticipated hepatitis C drugs are poised to usher in a new era in the treatment of the viral disease as early as this summer, experts say.
    The Merck drug boceprevir and Vertex Pharmaceutical’s similar drug telaprevir are expected to win FDA approval within months, following phase III trials showing that both drugs boosted cure rates to around 70% when used with standard therapy.
    The drugs will be used in patients with HCV genotype 1 -- the hardest to treat form of the viral infection.
    Adding one of the drugs to the current two-drug regimen of peginterferon and ribavirin will make the treatment of hepatitis C more complex, but it will also cure a lot more people, hepatitis C specialist Donald M. Jensen, MD, of the University of Chicago Medical Center, tells WebMD.
    “Triple-drug therapy represents a major advance in the treatment of hepatitis C for patients,” he says.
    Results from two phase III boceprevir trials are published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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成中文(简体)
2011年3月30日- 两个备受瞩目的C型肝炎的药物正准备在一个的病毒疾病治疗的新时代，迎来今年夏天一样早，专家说。
    默克药物boceprevir和Vertex制药的同类药物telaprevir预计在数月内赢得FDA批准后，第三阶段的试验显示，两种药物提高治愈率70％左右，与标准疗法来使用。
    该药物将用于治疗丙型肝炎病毒基因型1 -最难治疗病毒感染的形式。
    添加的药物之一，目前的两药方案的聚乙二醇干扰素和利巴韦林将C型肝炎治疗更为复杂，但它也将更多的人治愈，丙型肝炎专家唐纳德M.延森，医师，大学芝加哥医疗中心，告诉中央社。
    “三联药物疗法代表了C型肝炎患者治疗的主要进展，“他说。
    第三阶段从两个boceprevir试验结果发表于新英格兰医学杂志。