Future therapies for hepatitis C

Therapy for hepatitis C is a dynamic field. Many new therapeutic agents, acting on different viral targets, are being developed for use. Some agents have been abandoned because of lack of efficacy or toxicity, but others have shown promise in preliminary studies and are being tested further, both as monotherapy and in combination with interferon or ribavirin, the current standard of care. Still others are in preclinical development. This article discusses new treatments that have shown efficacy in preliminary trials, with a particular emphasis on agents that have progressed to phase II and phase III trials.