A new drug under development for hepatitis C greatly improved the cure rate for patients while cutting the time needed for treatment, according to the drug's maker, Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
As reported by The New York Times, about 75 percent of patients enrolled in the trial who took the drug, telaprevir, along with standard treatment, essentially rid themselves of the virus, which can lead to liver damage and even cancer. In comparison, just 44 percent of patients who took the standard therapy alone had the same results.
Telaprevir works by blocking a protease, an enzyme manufactured by the virus, similar to how powerful HIV medications attack that pathogen.
Typical treatments aimed at ridding the body of hepatitis C typically take up to a year, and many patients drop out before that time. However, in the Vertex trial, about 70 percent of the almost 1,100 patients enrolled were able to achieve that goal within six months, the company reported.
"If you can promise them six months with a reasonable chance of a cure, that's a meaningful advance," Dr. Scott L. Friedman, chief of the division of liver diseases at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, told the TimesExperimental Drug Boosts Cure Rate for Hepatitis COriginally from: http://www.nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/13113-experimental-drug-boosts-cure-rate-for-hepatitis-c
View this post on my blog: http://travelnursesuccess.com/experimental-drug-boosts-cure-rate-for-hepatitis-c
No comments:
Post a Comment