Human drugs to treat hepatitis C cleared virus in chimpanzees: Japan study

OSAKA - Drugs used to treat human patients for hepatitis C infections cleared the virus from chimpanzees deliberately infected for research, including some infected more than 40 years ago, a recent study by a team of Japanese researchers showed.

The study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Medical Virology by researchers from Kyoto University and Kumamoto University, found that direct-acting antivirals for humans could also effectively eradicate long-standing hepatitis C virus infection in chimpanzees.