Hepatitis C Rimantadine and Antiviral Combination Therapy
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2015-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Hepatitis C virus is one of the leading causes of liver failure and liver cancer worldwide.
Current treatment of hepatitis C infection is only successful in about half of those who are
eligible. The current treatment aims to boost the host immune system but does not directly
act on the virus. Many drugs are in various stages of development that target the virus
directly - their specific mode of action is confirmed by showing the virus is forced to adapt
in the presence of the drug. As with many viruses, treating with only one specific drug would
quickly lead to the virus adapting and becoming resistant. We therefore need to find new
combinations of directly acting drugs. Rimantadine has already been shown in the laboratory
to target hepatitis C directly. We have designed this study to see if it happens in real life
as well. If so, we could use rimantadine to help fight hepatitis c more effectively.