Virobay

About Hepatitis C

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver mainly induced by auto-immunity, chemical, or infectious agents.  In the United States, the third most prevalent form of chronic infectious hepatitis is caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV).  Worldwide there are an estimated 170 million people infected with HCV with nearly 4 million infected individuals in the United States.

Acute HCV infection is asymptomatic in most patients.  Fifteen to twenty-five percent of newly infected individuals will clear the virus, but the majority will become chronically infected with HCV.  In time, the normal tissues of the liver are supplanted with scar tissue and the liver becomes unable to compensate for the damage and ultimately the patient condition deteriorates with liver failure.  For these reasons, HCV infection is the primary indication for liver transplantation in the United States.

The standard of care for chronic HCV infection is sub-cutaneous pegylated interferon alpha (PEG IFN-a) administered weekly and oral ribavirin administered daily.  The therapy is administered for a period of 24 to 72 weeks, depending on viral genotype and status of co-infection with HIV, as well as pattern of on-treatment response.  The goal of therapy is a sustained virologic response (SVR), defined as no detectable virus 24 weeks after the cessation of therapy.  SVR can be achieved in only about 50% of patients with genotype 1 following 48 weeks of therapy.  The majority of patients in North America, Europe, and Japan are infected with genotype 1, with approximately 80% of hepatitis C patients in the United States infected with this genotype.