VIDEO - DDW: video New HCV Drugs Expected to Be 'Breakthrough'

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VIDEO - DDW: video New HCV Drugs Expected to Be 'Breakthrough'

By Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage TodayPublished: May 11, 2011

CHICAGO -- With two hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitors expected to win FDA approval later this month, the hepatology community is looking at a genuine breakthrough in treating HCV infections, a well-known researcher said in this exclusive MedPage Today Infocus video report.

Telaprevir and boceprevir both won unanimous endorsements from an FDA advisory committee in April and final approval is believed to be imminent. Muir, MD, director of GI/hepatology research at Duke University, told MedPage Today Senior Editor Gever that these drugs offer the promise of nearly doubling response rates compared with the current standard of care.

But he warned that clinicians need to be careful with the new agents -- they should never be given as monotherapy, but must be given along with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. Nor should physicians simply substitute the other drug in patients who don't respond adequately to the first one tried, Muir emphasized.

VIDEO

http://Hepatitis Cnewdrugs.blogspot.com/2011/05/ddw-video-new-hcv-drugs-expected-to-be.html