There are many compounds being studied to treat hepatitis C. A number of compounds for these targets are in early "test-tube" development or pre-clinical "animal" development phases. Most of these compounds, however, will never make it to trials in humans (clinical studies). In fact, only one in 1,000 compounds makes it to human testing. Of those drugs that make it to human testing only 1 in 5 will receive FDA marketing approval. Therefore, every effort has been made to focus this list only on treatments that are known to be in current or very near to active clinical development in human subjects.
There are many new drugs in development to treat hepatitis C. When new drugs are tested they will be compared to the current standard of care—the combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin. In addition, most experts believe that when new drugs are approved to treat hepatitis C that they will be used in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin.
When a company is ready to proceed to clinical trials, it files an Investigational New Drug Application (IND) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Most clinical trials are designated as phases I, II, or III, and sometimes IV based on the type of questions that the study is seeking to answer.
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