- LONDON (Reuters) - A new
drug that prevents a contagious virus from duplicating in the body could
be a new weapon against hepatitis C, a disease that could kill more people
than AIDS, scientists said on Sunday.
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- More than 170 million people around the globe are infected
with the virus that can cause permanent liver damage and in many cases
death.
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- There is no vaccine against the hepatitis C virus (HVC)
and current treatments can cause unwanted side effects.
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- But scientists working for the German drugs giant Boehringer
Ingelheim have developed a drug that could offer new hope to patients with
the illness.
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- Called BILN 2061, the drug targets an enzyme to block
the replication of the virus. In eight people given four doses of the treatment
viral loads, or the amount of virus in the blood, dropped by 100 to 1,000
fold after 48 hours without producing any unpleasant reactions in the patients.
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- "The antiviral results of protease inhibitor BILN
2061 in a proof-of-concept human trial clearly demonstrate the great potential
of selective and anti-HCV agents," Daniel Lamarre, of the company
research center in Laval, Canada, said in a report published online by
the science journal Nature.
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- BILN 2061 is the first of a class of drugs called NS3
protease inhibitors to be tested in humans.
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- Although more longer trials are needed to see if the
drug keep the viral load down and if resistance develops, the scientists
believe it "holds great promise to markedly improve treatments of
chronic HCV infection."
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- Former U.S. surgeon general Dr C. Everett Koop has described
the illness as a graver threat to public health than AIDS.
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- "Hepatitis C already infects three times more people
than does AIDS. It is responsible for more than one-third of all liver
transplants," Koop warned in an Internet message, adding that the
illness could kill more people than AIDS each year.
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- Hepatitis C is currently treated using interferons, including
Pegasys produced by Roche Holding AG and PeginTron made by Schering-Plough
Corp . Both treatments are given in combination with the antiviral drug
ribavirin.
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- Canadian actress Pamela Anderson, who shot to stardom
in the television series Baywatch, announced last year that she was being
treated for hepatitis C. She claimed she was infected by sharing a tattoo
needle with her ex-husband, rocker Tommy Lee.
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- People can get the virus through any exposure to infected
blood, including intravenous drug use, body piercing, tattooing, unbandaged
cuts or poorly sterilized medical equipment and blood transfusions.
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- Many people who are infected do not know it. Fatigue
is the most common early symptom but it can occur years after the initial
infection. In its later stages the illness causes jaundice, abdominal swelling
and liver failure.
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