Sovaldi and Olysio: Novel Antiviral Treatment for Hepatitis C

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Hepatitis C is a viral disease that leads to inflammation of the liver, and is part of the Hepatitis virus family, Flaviviridae, of which A and B are the most well known. Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection leads to scarring of the liver and cirrhosis, which a significantly heightened chance of liver failure and/or liver cancer. While HCV occurs only in human and chimpanzees, it is a highly transmissible virus that occurs through blood contact often in medical, hard labor intensive, sexual intercourse and intravenous drug use settings. Hepatitis C infections are predominantly treated with a medication cocktail consisting of peginterferon and ribavirin, which have a success rate of 50% but often induces multiple side effects such as flu-like symptoms, anemia and depression (Terhune and Brown, 2014). In late 2013, the Federal Drug Administration approved two new non-interferon antiviral drugs to treat Hepatitis C, Gilead's Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Johnson and Johnson's Olysio (simeprevir). In test trials involving 197 patients who were not responsive to interferon, the paired administration of Sovaldi and Olysio was shown to clear 90 percent of the Hepatitis C virus (Sheridan, 2014). These two novel drugs will be important in the next few years for curing patients with Hepatitis C, especially if costs can be brought down.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)

Electron micrograph of the Ebola Zaire virus. This was the first photo ever taken of the virus, on 10/13/1976. By Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, then at the CDC.

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Legend/credit: Electron micrograph of the Ebola Zaire virus. This was the first photo ever taken of the virus, on 10/13/1976. By Dr. F.A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, then at the CDC.
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Interferon-Based Antiviral Therapy

Include some current research in each topic, with at least one figure showing data.

Sovaldi and Olysio Antiviral Therapy

Include some current research in each topic, with at least one figure showing data.

Further Reading

[Sample link] Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever—Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Special Pathogens Branch

References

Garber, Ken. "Hepatitis C: move over interferon." Nature Biotechnology. 2011. Volume 29. p. 963–966. - Started the search for non-interferon anti-viral therapy.

Sheridan, Cormac. "FDA approvals usher in the post-interferon era in HCV." Nature Biotechnology. 2014. Volume 32. p. 3-5. -Overview

Asselah, T. and Marcellin, P. "Interferon free therapy with direct acting antivirals for HCV." Liver Intl. 2013. Volume 33. p.93-104. -Feb 2013 review of mechanisms of action of DAAs and SVR rates

Kowdley, KV., Lawitz, E., Crespo, I., Hassanein, T., et al. "Sofosbuvir with pegylated interferon alfa-2a and ribavirin for treatment-naive patients with hepatitis C genotype-1 infection (ATOMIC): an open-label, randomised, multicentre phase 2 trial." The Lancet. 2013. Volume 381. p. 2100-07.

Lawitz, E., Lalezari, JP., Hassanein, T., Kowdley, KV., et al. "Sofosbuvir in combination with peginterferon alfa-2a and ribavirin for non-cirrhotic, treatment-naive patients with genotypes 1, 2, and 3 hepatitis C infection: a randomised, double-blind, phase 2 trial." Lancet Inf. Dis. 2013. Volume 13. p. 401-408.

Edited by Victoria Wong, a student of Nora Sullivan in BIOL168L (Microbiology) in The Keck Science Department of the Claremont Colleges Spring 2014.