Hepatitis C Rimantadine and Antiviral Combination Therapy

Hepatitis C virus is one of the leading causes of liver failure and liver cancer worldwide. Current treatment of hepatitis C infection is only successful in about half of those who are eligible. The current treatment aims to boost the host immune system but does not directly act on the virus. Many drugs are in various stages of development that target the virus directly - their specific mode of action is confirmed by showing the virus is forced to adapt in the presence of the drug. As with many viruses, treating with only one specific drug would quickly lead to the virus adapting and becoming resistant. We therefore need to find new combinations of directly acting drugs. Rimantadine has already been shown in the laboratory to target hepatitis C directly. We have designed this study to see if it happens in real life as well. If so, we could use rimantadine to help fight hepatitis c more effectively.