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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Early Viral Entry Assays for the Identification and Evaluation of Antiviral Compounds
Published on: October 29, 2015
Emerging drugs for hepatitis C
Vincent Soriano1, Antonio Madejon, Eugenia Vispo
1Hospital Carlos III, Department of Infectious Diseases, Calle Sinesio Delgado 10, Madrid 28029, Spain. vsoriano@dragonet.es
Background:
Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection remains a global health threat with approximately 200 million carriers worldwide. Current treatment consists of the use of peginterferon (pegIFN)/ribavirin (RBV) for 24 or 48 weeks depending on HCV genotype. Serious side effects and the fact that less than half of patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4 (which are the most common) accomplish sustained virological response with this medication warrant the need for novel anti-HCV therapies.
Objective:
Description of specifically targeted antiviral therapies for hepatitis C (STAT-C) designed to inhibit the serine protease and the RNA-dependent HCV-RNA polymerase.
Methods:
Review of available data reported in peer-reviewed journals and medical conferences.
Results/Conclusions:
Early preclinical studies using these compounds produced encouraging results, but the initial enthusiasm has been hampered by toxicity issues and rapid selection of resistance. Therefore, combination therapy with a backbone of pegIFN/RBV, or perhaps in the future using several of these small molecules, preferably having distinct modes of action and resistance profiles, will be required.
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