New Drug Helps Hard-to-Treat Hepatitis C

A new drug improves treatment response for people with hepatitis C, two studies show. One study included 1,097 people who had not been treated for hepatitis C before. They had genotype 1, which is hard to treat. Two groups of patients were given boceprevir, a new drug. They took it for either 24 or 44 weeks. The third group received a placebo (fake pills) instead. All 3 groups also got standard drugs for the whole study period and 4 weeks before it began. Researchers looked at how many people had a sustained biologic response. This means they had no genetic material (RNA) from hepatitis C in their blood 24 weeks after treatment ended. Blacks and non-blacks responded differently. About 68% of non-blacks taking boceprevir had a sustained response. The rate was 40% for those who got the placebo.