Hepatitis C News and Research

Latest Hepatitis C News and Research

WHO study finds Remdesivir and other repurposed drugs ineffective in COVID-19

A large-scale randomized trial has recently been conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to evaluate the efficacy of four repurposed antiviral medicines, including Remdesivir, Hydroxychloroquine, Lopinavir, and Interferon, currently used to treat hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.

18 Oct 2020

Start-up receives NIH grant to accelerate development of contrast agent to detect liver fibrosis

Inlighta Biosciences, LLC, a start-up company led by Jenny Yang, Regents' Professor of Chemistry at Georgia State University, has been awarded a National Institute of Health grant to accelerate development of a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent to detect liver fibrosis, formation of scar tissue in the liver caused by alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

15 Oct 2020

Researchers receive $1.35 million grant to reduce impact of substance abuse in Appalachia

McDowell County--in the southern coalfields of West Virginia--is the second-most at-risk in the nation for an HIV outbreak related to drug injection. Neighboring Wyoming and Mercer Counties follow close behind. All three have some of the highest rates of acute hepatitis B and hepatitis C in the United States.

14 Oct 2020

SHEA releases updated guidance for healthcare workers with HIV, hepatitis

In light of the low rate of transmission and advances in treatments for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America today released updated guidance for healthcare personnel living with these bloodborne pathogens based on the latest available science.

14 Oct 2020

Researchers receive €2.35 million to examine disease pathways of viruses

Two University College Dublin (UCD) researchers and SiriusXT, a UCD spin-out company, have been awarded a total of €2.35 million in funding for a disruptive photonics technology project, through Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation programme, to examine the disease pathways of viruses.

9 Oct 2020

Case report of arthritis in a COVID-19 patient

The current paper published in the The Lancet Rheumatology discusses arthritis in a 58-year-old white woman with COVID-19 of less than severe intensity.

7 Oct 2020

Sofosbuvir combined with other antivirals is more effective against COVID-19, shows study

Columbia Engineering researchers report that Sofosbuvir-terminated RNA is more resistant to the proofreader of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, than Remdesivir-terminated RNA.

7 Oct 2020

Discovery of high affinity binders for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

An exciting, 'tour-de-force' paper by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology describes de novo discovery of high-affinity peptide binders for SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, which opens the door for the development of rapid viral identification or conjugates for virus-directed delivery of therapeutics.

30 Sep 2020

Parkinson's disease diagnosed after SARS-CoV-2

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, new and unusual chronic sequelae of the disease are cropping up in many medical practices. Now, a new case paper published in The Lancet in September 2020 describes a case of new-onset Parkinson's disease following infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

22 Sep 2020

New drug candidate suppresses SARS-CoV-2 replication

Researchers at Stanford University and Utah State University have developed a novel inhibitor of the coronavirus main protease (Mpro) that effectively suppresses the viral replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

17 Sep 2020

Azelastine antihistamine inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection in nasal tissue in vitro

In a study published on the bioRxiv preprint server, researchers from the University of Pécs, University of Vienna, and CEBINA GmbH, Vienna, show the ability of the antihistamine azelastine to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection in human nasal tissue in vitro.

16 Sep 2020

Study investigates the outcomes of heart transplants from severely obese donors

Heart transplant patients who received hearts from severely obese donors had similar short-term outcomes and long-term survival as patients who received hearts from non-obese donors, according to new research published today in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal.

16 Sep 2020

UTEP's MARC receives federal grant to fight opioid abuse in West Texas rural counties

The University of Texas at El Paso's Minority AIDS Research Center (MARC) is the subrecipient of a $1 million implementation grant to target substance use disorders and opioid use disorders in five rural counties along the Texas-Mexico border.

16 Sep 2020

New book gives overview of viruses and how they emerge to cause pandemics

Since the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 emerged late last year, it has been virtually impossible to consume any news without encountering stories about the virus and how it spreads, potential treatments, and the development of new vaccines.

11 Sep 2020

Personalized determination of genetic factors may improve treatment for polycythaemia vera

Polycythaemia vera is a chronic malignant disease of the haematopoietic system and is treated with interferon-alpha-based drugs, in most cases with long-lasting success. However, in some cases this therapy is unsuccessful for reasons that are not yet understood.

8 Sep 2020

New method offers hope to patients in critical need of kidney transplant

Kidneys from deceased donors with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can be safely transplanted into noninfected recipients when a regimen of direct-acting antiviral therapies is initiated as early as two days after the transplant, according to a study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

2 Sep 2020

14 existing drugs identified as SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitors

Now, a new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in August 2020 reports on the identification of 14 compounds that can inhibit the key viral enzyme called the Main Protease (MPro) at micromolar concentrations.

1 Sep 2020

Evaluating the use of sofosbuvir and daclatasvir for treatment of COVID-19

Several new papers in Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, published by Oxford University Press, suggest successful treatments for COVID-19.

24 Aug 2020

Whey protein from human breastmilk inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection

Many scientists have reported the effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on pregnancy and the virus has been detected in breastmilk. Now a new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in August 2020 shows that whey protein in human breastmilk efficiently prevents infection with SARS-CoV-2 as well as post-entry viral replication.

20 Aug 2020