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Hepatitis C : a curable disease?
Graham Foster, Professor of Hepatology at Queen Mary, University of London and Consultant Hepatologist at Barts and the London NHS Trust
Abstract
Chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus is common. Current treatments involve a course of treatment with a pegylated interferon and ribavirin. It is becoming increasingly clear that many patients are cured by this treatment and new studies analysing the virological response to interferon suggests that we may be able to modify the duration of therapy to maximise the number of patients who respond to therapy. The recent development of new model systems for chronic HCV infection have led to the development of a wide range of new drugs. Early studies with these new agents suggest that many have considerable promise and it is likely that over the next 5 years these new drugs will become available and will allow many more patients to receive curative treatment for their chronic infection.
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Biography
Professor GR Foster FRCP PhD
Professor Foster is the Professor of Hepatology at Queen Mary, University of London and a consultant hepatologist at Barts and The London NHS Trust in East London.. He trained in Medicine at Oxford and London Universities in the 1980s and completed a PhD in Molecular Biology in 1992. Professor Foster has a long standing interest in the management of chronic viral hepatitis and runs a clinical research program studying the natural history of viral hepatitis, its impact upon patients and their communities and novel
therapies for this disease. He supervises a laboratory research program investigating the mode of action of the different type I interferons. He is the sub-editor of The Journal of Viral Hepatitis and has published widely in the field of viral liver disease. He is a member of a number of patient advocacy groups and is a member of the UK Department of Health Advisory Group on Hepatitis.
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