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New Treatment For Those With Hepatitis C

DETROIT (WWJ) - Big news for those who suffer from Hepatitis C.  The Food and Drug Administration has approved another new treatment for the chronic liver disorder, it's the second drug approval in the past couple of weeks. 

Henry Ford Hospital Hepatitis C researcher, Dr. Stuart Gordon, says it's a landmark day.

"Their names are boceprevir and polaprevir and they bring enormous hope for patients with Hepatitis C, ushering in a new era of direct acting anti-viral agents."

The drug approved Monday will be called incivek. Gordon says for those patients responding to the new triple therapy regimens, the cure rates are going up to eighty percent and he says it is a cure for patients responding and staying negative to the virus. 

"These agents were formulated and developed specifically to target the replication of Hepatitis C and to stop it in its tracks," says Dr. Gordon.

He says the drugs should be available within the next couple of weeks. Gordon notes that four million people suffer from the chronic liver disorder in the U.S. alone.

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