New therapies on the horizon for hepatitis C: are we close?
A myriad of new therapies for treating hepatitis C are in various stages of preclinical and clinical development. As reviewed here, these include nucleic acid-based approaches (antisense and ribozymes), small molecule inhibitors of essential hepatitis C virus (HCV)-encoded enzymes (protease, helicase, and polymerase), immune modulation, and immunotherapy. As more details of the HCV lifecycle are elucidated, new targets and approaches will be discovered. Drug development is difficult, expensive, and always agonizingly slow for patients in need and their physicians. Nonetheless, a broad effort has been mounted for HCV, and substantial progress has been achieved. The prospects for new HCV treatments are bright.
De Francesco
Raffaele
R
Istituto di Ricerche di Biologia Molecolare P. Angeletti, Via Pontina KM 30,600, 00040 Pomezia, Rome, Italy. raffaele_defrancesco@merck.com
Rice
Charles M
CM
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000187:drug effects*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects*
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D004791:Enzyme Inhibitors; D016372:RNA, Antisense; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D014764:Viral Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin