Patients not opting for the current treatment for Hepatitis C, thanks to its side effects, could find themselves not waiting long for a new form of treatment offered by Merck.
In explaining how significant this new treatment is, Roger M. Perlmutter, the President at Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement, “The designation of [the combination drugs] as a breakthrough therapy for chronic hepatitis C is an important milestone for Merck. There remains significant unmet medical need in hepatitis C, and we are looking forward to working with the FDA to advance this program as quickly as we can to bring this investigational combination to [hepatitis C virus] specialists and their patients.”
With this new treatment, a combination of oral drugs, showing a very high cure rate which varies between 96 to 100 percent of people who have participated in a midstage clinical trial, it isn’t surprising that other manufacturers are also looking to find a new cure with the use of interferon.
Speaking of the interferon treatment, the side effects include headaches, fever, diarrhea, dry mouth, loss of appetite, nausea, hair loss, sleep loss as well as mental effects such as depression, irritation, fatigue and anxiety.
This treatment when administered stimulates the immune system while also slowing white blood cells as well as reducing blood platelet counts. This, in turn, will lead to nosebleeds, bruises among other types of bleeding.
Almost 4 million Americans suffer from this infection, thanks to being exposed to blood which occurs from sharing needles.