New therapies create 'optimistic time' for HCV, expert says

PHILADELPHIA — Stanley Martin Cohen, MD, medical director of hepatology at UH Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, discusses the high points from various speakers’ presentations during the hepatitis C symposia at the ACG Annual Scientific Meeting, and why now is an optimistic time for hepatitis C.

“This is an extremely exciting time for hepatitis C. We are finally reaching a point where the medications will be essentially side effect-free with cure rates well over 90% and this is so different than what we’ve ever experienced before,” Cohen said.

“There’s a lot of optimism. Number one, liver biopsy may become a thing of the past relatively soon; number two, genotype 1 is going to be treated with all-oral therapies at cure rates well over 90% and really approaching 100%,” he said. “Some of the other groups, the [genotypes] 2, 3, renal failure, etc., some of them have excellent therapies already, but I think within the next year or so were going to be able to treat and cure most of them in the over 90% range. This is a very optimistic time for hepatitis C.”

Watch the video here...

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