Catherine Kolonko

Comparing current treatment models to lessons learned in the early days of the AIDs epidemic, University of Southern California researchers are advocating that more than just the sickest patients with hepatitis C be treated with new drugs that have much higher cure rates than past regimens.

Japanese regulators have approved AbbVie's Viekirax to treat patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C, including those with compensated cirrhosis, the most common type of hepatitis in that country.

Fixed-dose combination of velpatasvir and sofosbuvir produced high rates of 12-week sustained virologic response in patients with HCV genotypes 1 through 6.

Researchers conducted an analysis of studies that spanned more than two decades and found that outbreaks of sexually transmitted hepatitis C is increasing among men who are HIV positive and have sex with other men.

Scientists in Italy say they have gained new insight into how the hepatitis C virus replicates as a result of studying the behavior of a key enzyme and creating a computer model that shows how it interacts with the viral genome.

The three-day gathering drew policymakers, patient groups, and physicians and other key stakeholders from more than 60 countries around the world

Researchers report that nearly one in four patients with hepatitis C are denied initial approval for treatment.

Awareness-raising day included events throughout the country aimed at reducing the high incidence of infection among people in black communities.

A novel hepatitis C treatment that combines sofosbuvir with another drug not yet approved in the US had a 97% success rate in a group of patients who were coinfected with HIV, according to researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

Gilead Sciences recently announced that Japanese regulators have approved its single-tablet combination drug Harvoni (ledipasvir 90 mg/sofosbuvir 400 mg) for the treatment of hepatitis C infection genotype 1 in adults.

The amount of money paid for expensive new hepatitis C drug treatments skyrocketed in the first quarter of 2015, according to a report released by Express Scripts.

Recent study showered 100 percent sustained virologic response at 12 weeks in patients with hepatitis C genotype 1b who received treatment with an interferon- and ribavirin-free combination drug.

England's National Health Services has increased its budget for new hepatitis C drugs to a whopping £190 million, amounting to nearly 215 million US dollars (at current exchange rates) and more than triple the amount allotted last year.

Merck has joined the competition to develop the next hepatitis C drug with its submission of a New Drug Application to the Food and Drug Administration for a once-daily pill to treat certain genotypes of the liver-damaging virus

Researchers from the University of Michigan say a new model that uses routine laboratory tests and machine-learning methods to better predict hepatitis C progression can be used to guide patients and doctors through important treatment decisions.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals has joined forces with Janssen Pharmaceuticals to develop a short-duration oral regimen to treat chronic hepatitis C, the companies announced.

The essential medicines list put out by the World Health Organization (WHO) now includes five new hepatitis C drugs that show great promise in curing the disease in millions of people. However, the WHO also warned financial stumbling blocks could greatly hinder efforts to make treatment equitable throughout the world.

In a continuing effort to curb the spread of hepatitis C among the riskiest populations, government health officials recently held a webinar to discuss links between opioid injection drug use and increased cases of the liver disease.

The authors of a study that explored an association between heart disease and hepatitis C say chronic infection of the virus should be considered a risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease.

A study of Rhode Island state prisons shines a spotlight on the trouble correctional facilities face because they aren't financially equipped to bear the budget-busting costs of new drugs to treat all inmates chronically infected with hepatitis C.

Japanese regulators recently approved the blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi as the first all-oral treatment regimen for genotype 2 patients in that country.

The FDA approved label warning changes for two Gilead Sciences hepatitis C drugs after one person died and nine others had serious reactions when the drugs were coadministered with amiodarone, a drug used to treat irregular heartbeat.

Researchers who analyzed the cost of new high-price hepatitis C drugs found them to be cost effective for most patients yet likely to weigh down budgets of US government and insurance providers for years to come like no drug ever before.

Detectable hepatitis C viral loads seen when treatment has ended in patients taking direct acting antiviral therapy is not necessarily an indication that the drug regimen didn't work, according to results from a recent study.

The best time to treat children infected with the hepatitis C virus may be off in the future when newer, better drugs with fewer side effects are expected to be approved for pediatric populations.

A Philadelphia program operating in underserved neighborhoods found that residents chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus often lacked access to screening as well as treatment for the disease.

Chronic kidney disease developed in association with exposure to antiretrovirals in people with initially normal levels of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was not limited to increased incidence immediately after starting therapy but in fact increased over time and exposure.

Tenofovir alafenamide, which results in 90% lower circulating plasma tenofovir than standard tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, is associated with similar virologic response rates as the standard regimen, but with an improved safety profile.

Combination treatment with daclatasvir and asunaprevir plus interferon/ribavirin had high success rates in a 24-week clinical trial for treatment of hepatitis C in patients coninfected with HIV.

An interferon/ribavirin-free pill that combines two drugs to treat patients with certain genotypes of hepatitis C who are also infected with HIV was found to be highly effective in a 12-week trial, clearing the hepatitis C virus from almost all the patients involved.