Combating HCV Recurrence: The Past, Present and Future of Anti-Viral Warfare

The face of medicine is changing. Advancements in every aspect of medicine have begun to accelerate. Throughout history doctors have uti lized science to some degree or another but never more than in the last 50 years. Today, doctors are turning to science more and more to answer their unanswerable questi ons. This both increases the ability to treat and manage pati ents as well as provides the necessary funding in order to propel medical sciences at unprecedented speeds. Newly discovered viruses and the complicati ons of their infecti ons present doctors and scienti sts with some of the most complex problems with regard to treatment opti ons. In order to establish a viable therapeuti c opti on to eradicate the virus a thorough understanding of a given virus’s biology and epidemiology must be achieved. Once accomplished, focus shift s to the producti on of a suitable vaccine. While this helps prevent the spread of new infecti ons, established or undetected viral infecti ons sti ll present a large health care puzzle that needs to be solved. Viral infecti ons oft en go unnoti ced unti l symptoms appear, long aft er the initi al infecti on has occurred. Drug development produces the fi rst line, rapid response therapy opti on to new infecti ons and disease but predominately focuses on retroacti vely treati ng the symptoms of infecti on, not oft en the source. Established infecti ons can only be treated with lifelong drug applicati on that are oft en not very effi cacious in viral eradicati on but rather just att empt to control viral replicati on to slow the progression of viral related diseases. These drug therapy opti ons oft en come at a heavy price, in monetary sums as well as in the pati ents well being and quality of life. The Hepati ti s C virus (HCV) is one of those infecti ons, which can remain undetected for many years and is oft en untreatable or with low effi cacy. This thesis aims to explore the development of these therapies, and to provide new informati on and insight about classical, current and future opti ons to HCV therapy.

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