Hepatitis C Drugs Kill the Virus...and Your Sex Drive

(MoneyWatch)  As the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) kicks off its annual confab this week, all eyes will be on efforts to revolutionize the standard of care for hepatitis C.

Most HCV patients are treated with ribavirin and pegylated interferon, a combination that often comes under fire for its 40 percent to 50 percent cure rate and significant side effects including anemia, infections, depression and anxiety. And now, according to research published in the journal Gastroenterology, there's another side effect to add to that list...one that may warrant a new nickname for the HCV regimen: urdixaflop.

According to the study, 38 percent to 48 percent of men reported that their sexual function was worse after a course of ribavirin and pegylated interferon. The men also saw declines in sexual desire, sexual satisfaction, erectile function and ejaculatory function. Viagra-maker Pfizer is sure to be all over this...

In all seriousness, the data are just one more reason folks are so excited about Phase III drugs like Vertex Pharmaceuticals' telaprevir and Schering-Plough's boceprevir. The two are protease inhibitors that could offer a much-needed new option in HCV, which is why they take center-stage at every major medical meeting where HCV is on the agenda.

This year's AASLD conference should be no exception, although analysts also are watching competing protease inhibitors like Schering's SCH-900518, Boehringer Ingelheim's BI-201335 and Tibotec's TMC-435350.

For now, the protease inhibitors are being studied as add-ons to ribavirin and interferon, but experts are eager for ways to reduce or eliminate reliance on the standard of care. One such approach, which combined a protease inhibitor with a polymerase inhibitor, made a huge splash at another liver meeting this spring, and updated data are coming at AASLD.

Immunotherapy also may offer a way either to build on or avoid standard of care. GlobeImmune is presenting data at AASLD from a Phase II study combining its HCV vaccine with both ribavirin and interferon, while Idera Pharmaceuticals has data showing its IMO-2125 may be able to stimulate natural interferon production, making that part of the regimen unnecessary.

Limp photo by Flickr user fhwrdh, CC.