New experimental drug cured 95% of patients with hepatitis C

An experimental medicine has cured 95 percent of patients with hepatitis C, including those who failed other treatments, WebMD reported.

This newer, advanced treatment is better-tolerated than interferon, the traditional standard treatment for hepatitis C, researchers say.

"Interferon is no longer required to cure hepatitis C," said Dr. Stefan Zeuzem, a professor of medicine at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, and lead researcher on the ABT-450 study.

Dr. Stefan Zeuzem, a professor of medicine at the J.W. Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, and lead researcher on the ABT-450 (experimenatl drug) study paired with other interferon-free medications and found, that almost all patients with chronic hepatitis C can be cured even if previous treatments were unsuccessful.

An advantage to this treatment is that it is a pill, while interferon is given in weekly injections. Also, older treatments went on for a year, while this new therapy takes only three months to work.

Interferon treatment also has severe side effects, including fatigue and flu-like symptoms.

Hepatitis C can be spread by injectable drug use or sexual contact with an infected person. 

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