A new study, conducted in part by UNC, found that a 24-week hepatitis C treatment course is as effective as a 48-week treatment.
The study found that 92 percent of 24-week patients had no detectable hepatitis C in their blood after treatment discontinued.
Having that sustained virological response is analogous to a cure.
In the 48-week group, 88 percent had no detectable hepatitis C after treatment discontinued.
Up to four million people in the United States have this chronic liver disease. Many will seek treatment for hepatitis C.
Michael Fried, a professor of medicine at UNC, was a co-author of the study, which appears in the September issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
