High cure rates seen with Merck oral hepatitis drugs: study

A combination of two oral hepatitis C treatments developed by Merck & Co led to high cure rates in previously untreated patients, indicating the company is a contender in the race to find new treatments for the liver destroying virus. The treatments tested with and without the older drug ribavirin led to cure rates of 96 percent to 100 percent, according to interim data from a small midstage clinical trial. The results appear to confirm Merck will be competitive in the crowded race to develop interferon-free treatments for hepatitis C, assuming they are repeated in larger studies that include more difficult to treat patient populations, such as those not helped by prior therapy.



via Health News Headlines - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/high-cure-rates-seen-merck-oral-hepatitis-drugs-133711607--finance.html