Hepatitis C News and Research

Latest Hepatitis C News and Research

Remdesivir, given to half of hospitalized covid patients in U.S., is big win for Gilead — boosted by taxpayers

It was the end of April — just as the U.S. confirmed its millionth covid-19 case and 50,000 deaths — when White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci announced "highly significant" news about a drug called remdesivir.

27 Jan 2021

COVID-19 has transformed the world of vaccines

Researchers at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Italy and Belgium say the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is transforming the world of vaccinology by accelerating vaccine development and the availability of powerful technologies.

20 Jan 2021

Carbon-based nanomaterials as potential COVID-19 treatments

An international team of researchers says that carbon-based nanomaterials (CBNs) could represent promising new approaches to treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia that is complicated by a secondary bacterial, viral or fungal infection.

19 Jan 2021

Research suggests St. John's Wort and Echinacea could protect against COVID-19

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have conducted a study demonstrating the antiviral effects of two medicinal herbs against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

17 Jan 2021

Study: Frailty is a risk factor among women waiting for liver transplants

Women awaiting liver transplants in the United States are known to be about one-third more likely than men to become too ill to undergo surgery or die before receiving a liver.

4 Jan 2021

FDA-approved COVID-19 drug should be used cautiously, says UC researcher

While the world has its eyes on vaccines to stop the spread of coronavirus, therapeutics are still necessary to treat hospitalized patients. One of these treatments, remdesivir, is the first and only antiviral agent of its kind that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved so far for COVID-19.

3 Jan 2021

HDL nanoparticles prevent cholesterol movement at membrane receptor to inhibit entry of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus in cell culture

As researchers strive to find safe therapeutics for COVID 19, a study suggests that preventing the movement of cholesterol may inhibit viral entry by up to 80%.

17 Dec 2020

Hepatitis C virus drugs synergize with remdesivir against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

SARS-CoV-2 has infected over 71.5 million people and claimed over 1.6 million lives globally since December 2019.

17 Dec 2020

Drug may increase vaccine protection in older adults

A drug that boosts the removal of cellular debris in immune cells may increase the protective effects of vaccines in older adults, a study published today in eLife shows.

15 Dec 2020

Remdesivir likely to be highly effective treatment for COVID-19

The drug remdesivir is likely to be a highly effective antiviral against SARS-CoV-2, according to a new study by a team of UK scientists.

14 Dec 2020

Amilorides reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral replication in vitro

A new U.S. study published on the bioRxiv preprint server reports the use of an amiloride-based scaffold that targets a viral RNA structure known to be essential in viral replication in the 5’-untranslated region (UTR) of the virus. The researchers say this heralds the application of these molecules as chemical probes to explore viral biology and produce specific antivirals targeting RNA regions of the coronavirus genome.

8 Dec 2020

COVID-19 pandemic has led to a decrease in hospital-wide HCV testing

New research from Boston Medical Center finds that the COVID-19 emergency systemic changes made to decrease in-person visits during the pandemic have led to a decrease in hospital-wide Hepatitis C (HCV) testing by 50 percent, and a reduction in new HCV diagnoses by more than 60 percent.

4 Dec 2020

Pharmacophore model helps find key protease inhibitor responsible for COVID-19

A team of San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) researchers recently created a pharmacophore model and conducted data mining of the database of drugs approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to find potential inhibitors of papain-like protease of SARS-CoV2, one of the main viral proteins responsible for COVID-19.

2 Dec 2020

How COVID-19 highlights the uncertainty of medical testing

Dr. Jacqueline Chu considered the man with a negative coronavirus test on the other end of the phone, and knew, her heart dropping, that the test result was not enough to clear him for work.

1 Dec 2020

Good cholesterol helps SARS-CoV-2 enter cells

The researchers explained that the SARS-CoV-2 can infect human host cells after its viral spike protein (SARS-2-S) binds to a cellular surface receptor called the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

30 Nov 2020

Largest clinical trial launched to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 patients in Africa

Thirteen African countries and an international network of research institutions have joined forces to launch the largest COVID-19 clinical trial in mild-to-moderate outpatients in Africa.

24 Nov 2020

Pomegranate peel extract shows potential as inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 virus

Researchers led by first author Relja Suručić from the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, have studied the use of pomegranate peel extracts in preventing infections with SARS-CoV-2.

22 Nov 2020

Widespread COVID-19 testing may be possible with new dried blood tests

Researchers have developed dried blood spot sample testing that could be instrumental in preventing the spread of SARS- CoV-2.

17 Nov 2020

Several hepatitis C drugs can inhibit crucial protein in SARS-CoV-2

Experiments led by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have determined that several hepatitis C drugs can inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 main protease, a crucial protein enzyme that enables the novel coronavirus to reproduce.

17 Nov 2020

New prediction model may make it easier to find which infants will develop NAS

A new Vanderbilt-designed prediction model may make it easier to determine which infants will go on to develop neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a drug withdrawal syndrome in newborns that occurs after exposure to opioids during pregnancy.

12 Nov 2020