Hepatitis C bespoke drug treatments

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh are developing bespoke treatments for hepatitis C patients that could save money and time.

New drugs to treat the disease are expected to be approved next year and a new test is being developed to check how effective these treatments will be on prospective patients before they are prescribed.

It is hoped it will stop the standard practice of trial and error often employed on patients, when different courses of drugs are prescribed to attempt at treating the problem before the best solution is found.

Only one antiviral treatment for hepatitis C is currently available but the new drugs will be screened using this new method developed in Edinburgh.

The scientists also said the disease can be monitored to check when it is becoming resistant to drugs, while the effectiveness of switching to other treatments can also be evaluated.

A researcher at the university’s centre for infectious diseases, Ingrid Imhof , said:

“This new system will make it easier to select in advance the best treatment option for each individual patient, saving them from ineffective treatments with potentially serious side-effects.”

All six strains of hepatitis C were used to infect liver cells, before the cells were tested using a range of drugs.

The team, led by Professor Peter Simmonds, analysed each strain of the disease to check the effectiveness of the drugs and any resistance to them.

The study findings were published in the Journal of Virology.

News Source Nursing Times