AASLD, EASL to hold special conference on therapy of HCV

European Association for the Study of the LiverJun 29 2012

The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), together with the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), will be holding an exciting "Special Conference" dedicated to the timely topic of:

Therapy of Hepatitis C: Clinical Application and Drug Development

During the three days of the conference - held from 14-16 September 2012 in Prague, Czech Republic leading international Hepatitis C experts will highlight and address a series of lectures, and participate in interactive debates on hop topics in Hepatitis C. Case presentations and parallel interactive sessions will take place and space will be reserved for poster presentations of original works in the field.

The EASL-AASLD Special Conference provides an opportunity to keep abreast of the latest developments in this rapidly advancing field. The programme has been designed to provide adequate time for discussion and networking and will address a variety of areas including:

• Global scale intervention and control of HCV
• Prospects for a preventive HCV vaccine
• Review of new drug treatments in development such as Nonnucleoside inhibitors of HCV RNA polymerase, NS5A inhibitors, and Cyclophylin inhibitors
• Effectiveness of triple combinations in cirrhotics

Prof. Dr. Heiner Wedemeyer, a former EASL Secretary General and one of the Special Conference organisers, said a major discussion point at the conference will deal with the real-world use of new direct-acting antivirals (DAAs):

"We will discuss how to manage the side-effects of DDAs in real-world settings, and also their efficacy in populations not treated in pivotal registration trials. This is extremely important for physicians who are starting to use the drugs, particularly in terms of which patients should now be treated," said Prof. Dr. Heiner Wedemeyer.

Moreover, Prof. Dr. Wedemeyer said perspectives on Interferon (IFN) free treatment regimens will be extremely exciting: "After more than 25 years, we can now develop therapies that will not require IFN-alpha, which causes many side-effects and is also very expensive. We are experiencing a paradigm shift in the therapy of hepatitis C. This conference will also be very important for the development of new guidelines in Europe!"