Cholesterol drug may help hepatitis C

OKLAHOMA CITY, May 15 (UPI) -- A drug used to treat high cholesterol levels lowers the viral load in hepatitis C, a U.S.study said.

In a study of 31 veterans at the Veteran's Administration Medical Center in Oklahoma City, researchers found a drug for cholesterol patients -- Fluvastatin -- significantly lowered the viral load, or levels of hepatitis C virus, for up to six weeks when used alone.

The findings are published online in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

"This research is the first to demonstrate the antiviral activity of Fluvastatin in human beings infected with hepatitis C, most of whom were non-responders to the standard of care treatment," principle investigator Dr.Ted Bader of Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City said in a statement.

Fluvastatin alone, Bader said, won't completely clear the hepatitis C virus so it is being included it in a phase II randomized, controlled trial of a combination of drugs.

"We need additional drugs to add to this regimen to improve the cure rate," Bader said. "When patients are cured, they feel dramatically better, their healthcare costs plummet, their risk of liver cancer drops dramatically, and if they do not have cirrhosis, they will not need a liver transplant. Moreover, they are no longer infectious."