Experimental drug cures 70 percent of patients with hepatitis C

[xchrom]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/27/experimental-drug-cures-70-percent-of-patients-with-hepatitis-c/




An experimental drug combination cured 70 percent of patients with hepatitis C in early trials, offering hope of a simpler remedy for the chronic liver disease, US researchers said Tuesday.

The phase II trial described in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) studied the effectiveness and safety of an experimental drug, sofosbuvir, taken with the licensed antiviral drug ribavirin.

The drugs were administered orally, an improvement over the current treatment which involves weekly injections with interferon-alpha and can cause depression, flu-like symptoms and anemia.

Ten patients with early to moderate liver disease were treated with 400 milligrams daily of sofosbuvir and weight-based doses of ribavirin for six months.

[MADem]

1. A number of celebrities will be thrilled! nt

[xchrom]

2. what a weird thing to say. nt

[MADem]

3. There are many famous celebrities with the affliction who have gone public about it.

It's not "weird" at all--they were the ones who brought it "out of the shadows" and made it acceptable for people to talk about it.

Have you been living in a bunker all these years? It's so "not weird" that wiki even has a page on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_hepatitis_C

[xchrom]

4. what ever you say. nt

[MADem]

5. It didn't "hit my radar" until Pamela Anderson and Naomi Judd started talking about it.

Once they started going on talk shows and discussing it, others opened up, too.

Before them, no one said a word. Now everyone has "awareness" and more people know how to prevent it.

[BeyondGeography]

6. Great news

I have friends who have gone through the interferon regimen and it can be grueling.

[mopinko]

7. and futile. BIL has been battling this.

got a liver transplant and is doing well. but it has been hell.

[BeyondGeography]

8. I am sincerely glad for him

One of my buddies was battling depression going into this and I don't think he ever recovered. At the very least, he suffered major setbacks with some of his most important relationships. They recommend injecting on Fridays because it pretty much wipes you out for a day or two, which, as you can imagine, doesn't help with your personal life. To go through that and not be cured is very, very tough. (He was, fortunately.)