January 2014

With the emergence of new therapies targeted to specific drivers of melanoma and the approval of two new agents that demonstrate improvements in overall survival there appears to be fresh hope for improving outcomes in a cancer that, after metastasis, formerly left patients with very little hope.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been referred to as a "stealth virus" because most people who develop chronic hepatitis C don't know they are infected.

The medical community welcomed two new direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents for HCV-telaprevir (Incivek, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated) and boceprevir (Victrelis, Merck & Co., Inc.)-with an excitement that hadn't been seen since 1990.

It's always hard to know how many new therapies will make it all the way through a drug development pipeline.There are 12 combination therapies in phase II trials, 19 individual agents in phase II, and five more in phase III.