Quite a mouthful

Phase II data from AASLD suggest that, unlike the first wave of interferon-free HCV regimens, the second generation has real promise. As a result, the new standard of care brought about by the approval of two HCV protease inhibitors this year is likely to be supplanted fairly quickly by a variety of regimens geared to very specific patient populations and virus subtypes.

At last week's meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in San Francisco, one of the biggest questions was how many oral compounds given for how long could allow patients to avoid the need for peg-interferon...