Latest antiviral therapy Stories

A widely used HIV drug could be used to prevent cervical cancer caused by infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV), say scientists.University of Manchester researchers, working with colleagues in Canada, have discovered how the antiviral drug lopinavir attacks HPV by switching on a natural viral defence system in infected cells.The study, published in the journal Antiviral Therapy, builds on the team's previous work in 2006 that first identified lopinavir as a potential therapeutic for...

High costs, insurance status, and eligibility issues restrict treatment optionsNew research has determined that patients in the U.S. with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are twice as likely to not have health insurance coverage compared with those without the disease. In fact researchers found only a third of HCV infected Americans have access to antiviral therapy; the remaining are either uninsured or not candidates for therapy due to treatment contraindications. Details of this study are published...

BOSTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers from the University of Bari, Italy, concluded that treating patients after transplantation with antiviral therapy creates a sustained viral response (SVR) and protects them from liver-related deaths. The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term clinical outcomes of patients posttransplant who underwent antiviral therapy for recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection of the liver graft. The use in clinical practice of antiviral...

Taking oral antiviral medications following infection with the herpes simplex virus may be associated with a reduced risk of recurring eye-related manifestations of the disease, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals."Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a common cause of corneal disease and is the leading infectious cause of corneal blindness among developed nations," the authors write as background information in the...

Previous studies have shown that antiviral treatment reduces the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). But now, researchers from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Thomas Jefferson University are reporting that the antiviral therapy also prevents recurrence of HCC and extends patients' lives.The standard of care for patients with HCC is local ablation of the tumor, unless it is large or has metastasized. However, HCC tumors...

Treatment benefits patients with advanced liver disease from HCVResearchers at the UCLA Medical Center found that antiviral therapy during compensated cirrhosis, when compared with all other strategies, is the most cost-effective approach to treating patients with advanced liver disease due to hepatitis C (HCV) infection. Full details appear in the June issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases...

Research suggests lack of diagnosis is primary barrier to treatmentResearchers from the University of Michigan determined that only 663,000 of the approximately 3.9 million Americans with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection received antiviral therapy between 2002 and 2007. Treatment rates appear to be declining, in part because only half of the patients know they are infected. If this disturbing trend continues, by 2030 less than 15% of liver-related deaths from HCV will be prevented by...

Sexual impairment is common among men with chronic hepatitis C undergoing antiviral therapy, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.This is the first time a study evaluating the combination therapy, peginterferon and ribavirin, has identified sexual dysfunction as a side effect. Sexual dysfunction and impairment of desire should be considered common side effects of combination antiviral therapy in men...

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Data from Phase II studies published today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) report that GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) investigational compound PROMACTA (TM) (eltrombopag) significantly raised platelet levels in patients with thrombocytopenia (low number of platelets in the bloodstream). The studies were conducted in chronic hepatitis C (HCV) (See Note 1)(where thrombocytopenia complicates disease treatment) and chronic idiopathic...