Hepatitis C Infection - Interferon Free Treatments - 2013

Updated: January 4, 2013
The first Interferon-free treaments for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are supposed to be available in mid-to late 2014 being initially available in United States and Europe according to a research group called Decision Resources. Interferon treatments have not been effective for patients with Genotype 1, strain of Hepatitis C. So companies are racing for a cure. Currently many pharmaceuticals like Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Achillion, Gilead Sciences Inc, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc, Merck & Co and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co are still in clinical testing and trials of drugs and though the the trials show positive results of 99% effectiveness, the timetable of creating a drug and going through Federal testing and approval mark the release to be sometime in 2014. Some of the names that are currently being tested include

1. In the "Aviator" clinicial trial by Abbott, Abbott has a 3 drugs that it believes will be effective: ABT-450, ABT-267 and ABT-333. All three are used without interferon
2. "Faldaprevir" (known in clinical trials as BI-201335) and "BI-207127" (another drug which currently just has the clinical name--proved to be 69% effective. Both Faldaprevir and BI-207127 are created by Boehringer Ingelheim
3. "GS-7977" (Sofosbuvir - clinical trial name) and "Ribavirin" have been proven to be very effective in recent trials. GS-7977 (Sofosbuvir) is being actively developed by Gilead Sciences

Currently Abbott and Gilead are expected to pull through with a drug that is highly effective.

Many have said the cure does not need to be put off and if companies decided to combine their work and efforts, the population would have had a cure already. There is a growing minority who believe

1. Daclatasvir and GS-7977 combined together can cure Hepatitis C patients completely.

This is a promising hope as even in the latest interferon-free treatments being developed, Ribavirin is still used in addition to the main treatment. Why is Ribavirin use unsettling? Because Ribavirin has scary side effects. Let's look at some: leukopenia, birth defects, fetal demise, serious hemolytic anemias, and makes heart disease even worse. Additionally it has been shown to be carcinogenic. That's not good at all. This underscores why a combined use of Declatasvir and GS-7977 would be very beneficial. But the problem to this potentially new treatment is that Bristol-Myers Squibb is working on Daclatasvir and Gilead Science is working on GS-7977. Dr. Douglas J. Manion, Senior Vice President at Gilead Sciences has expressed interest in a collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb but as he stated in his own words "thus far, they have been unwilling to engage in that collaboration."

A recent statement by the Secretary-General of European Association For The Study of The Liver (EASL), Mark Thursz, said:
"The combination of daclatisvir and GS-7977 has shown positive results at Phase II. EASL is disappointed that development of this combination has been halted as daclatisvir and GS-7977 promised to deliver a highly effective oral regimen that we hoped would be available to HCV patients soon,"

Author: Stanley Soman
Originally Published: December 29, 2012
Modified: January 17, 2013