Hepatitis Health Center

News and Features Related to Hepatitis

11. New Hepatitis C Drug Incivek Gets FDA Approval
    

    May 23, 2011 -- The FDA has approved Vertex's Incivek as an add-on to current interferon/ribavirin therapy for hepatitis C infection. Like Victrelis, also approved this month, Incivek greatly boosts the chances that hepatitis C treatment will result in a cure -- that is, a "sustained viral response"

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12. FDA Approves Hepatitis C Drug Victrelis
    

    May 13, 2011 -- The FDA today approved a new drug called Victrelis (boceprevir) to treat certain adults with chronic hepatitis C. "Victrelis is used for patients who still have some liver function, and who either have not been previously treated with drug therapy for their hepatitis C or who have fa

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13. Experts Propose Age-Based Hepatitis C Testing
    

    May 9, 2011 -- Screening all people born between 1946 and 1970 for the hepatitis C virus would greatly reduce the number of people with advanced liver disease linked with the virus, according to new research. ''Current recommendations are to screen high-risk people," says researcher Lisa McGarry, MP

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14. Signs of Rise in Hepatitis C Cases Among Young
    

    May 5, 2011 -- Hepatitis C infections are rising among adolescents and young adults in Massachusetts, apparently in part due to needle sharing that spreads the virus, the CDC says in a new report. There is reason to believe, the researchers write, that this trend may be occurring in other states. Th

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15. FDA Panel Urges Approval of Hepatitis C Drug
    

    April 27, 2011 -- In an18-0 vote, an FDA advisory panel recommended approval of the drug boceprevir to treat hepatitis C. Panel members called boceprevir, manufactured by Merck & Co., a weapon in the fight against chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection. Chronic HCV genotype 1 infection

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16. FDA Panel Backs 2 Hepatitis C Drugs
    

    April 28, 2011 -- A major advance for treating hepatitis C is likely headed to market after government advisors backed two new drugs this week. Studies suggest the drugs could as much as double the effectiveness of current treatments for the potentially fatal liver disease. That could improve prospe

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17. 3-Drug Combo May Treat Hepatitis C
    

    March 30, 2011 -- Two highly anticipated hepatitis C drugs are poised to usher in a new era in the treatment of the viral disease as early as this summer, experts say. The Merck drug boceprevir and Vertex Pharmaceutical’s similar drug telaprevir are expected to win FDA approval within months, follow

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18. Hepatitis C Infection Rates Are Stable
    

    Feb. 14, 2011 -- The incidence of new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in the U.S. declined by more than 90% between 1990 and 1992 and has remained relatively stable ever since, new figures from the CDC confirm. Although the reasons for the dramatic drop are not fully understood, researchers attri

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19. World Travelers Wave Off Health Risks
    

    Nov. 5, 2010 -- Many people who travel around the world, especially those who go to poor and lower-income countries, risk contracting or spreading infectious diseases because they fail to research potential health issues at their destinations, a new study says. Researchers at Massachusetts General H

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20. New Hepatitis C Drugs in the Works
    

    Oct. 14, 2010 -- The long wait for new drugs that cure hepatitis C virus (HCV) may soon be over. In early research, a combination of two experimental, oral, direct-acting antiviral drugs dramatically reduced levels of the virus in the blood of infected patients over two weeks of treatment. And studi

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