A New Era of Hepatitis C Therapy Begins

A new era of therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is dawning with the development of two effective HCV protease inhibitors, boceprevir and telaprevir. In this issue of the Journal, the results of two phase 3 trials involving boceprevir, in combination with peginterferon and ribavirin, are presented: the SPRINT-2 (Serine Protease Inhibitor Therapy 2) trial (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00705432), by Poordad and colleagues,1 and HCV RESPOND-2 (Retreatment with HCV Serine Protease Inhibitor Boceprevir and PegIntron/Rebetol 2; NCT00708500), by Bacon and colleagues.2 Both studies focused on patients infected with HCV genotype 1; the SPRINT-2 trial involved those who had not previously . . .