Hepatitis C drug discovery: in vitro and in vivo systems and drugs in the pipeline

The combination therapy of ribavirin and pegylated interferon-alpha for hepatitis C has significant side effects, is often poorly tolerated and is ineffective in many patients, despite causing impressive improvement in the sustained virological response. Discovery and development of more effective and well-tolerated antihepatitis C virus drugs are clearly in great demand. During the past few years, remarkable advances have been made in the establishment of in vitro and in vivo systems. Armed with these systems, a wave of specific antihepatitis C virus compounds have been discovered and are moving into the clinical phase. More effective combination therapies with specific antivirals are predicted to emerge in the near future for the treatment of hepatitis C.