Monday, November 22, 2010

Advances made in developing hepatitis C vaccine

From the Vancouver Sun:
Scientists are zeroing in on a promising vaccine to treat hepatitis C, an international symposium was told Friday in Montreal.

Three preliminary clinical trials in England are showing that a so-called therapeutic vaccine can boost the immune response in those infected with the hepatitis C virus.

Still, a viable vaccine is a decade away, said Paul Klenerman, a University of Oxford physician researcher who is conducting the trials.

"Other vaccine trials have been done already, but ours is the first where we're treating people (with drugs) and giving them the vaccine at the same time," he said.

"What's possible is that you can have a good drug that can get most of the virus, but you might still need a bit more immune response to tidy it all up, because what you don't want to do is have all these drugs suppress it and then it comes back again, which is typically what happens." ...more

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