It is expected that majority of hepatitis C Irish patients will be able to get a cure in the form of new combination treatments within a year. The good news is pharmaceutical companies have presented their data on the new treatments at the International Liver Congress 2014 in London.

Combination therapies are considered to be more effective than traditional medicines. Their one more benefit is their treatment duration is shorter and also has fewer side-effects than medicines available for hepatitis C patients.

AbbVie presented its data which unveiled that its combination treatment led to a sustained virologic response in 96% patients and that too within three months. The results were achieved in an international clinical trial that also included Irish patients.

However, the biggest issue with the new treatment is very high cost. The cost is expected to be more than $50,000 for treatment. Many patients will not be able to afford the treatment. AbbVie has not confirmed the pricing yet but treatment from Gilead is costing around $90,000.

In the data, it was also mentioned that the therapy also provided relief to long term hepatitis C patients and patients with fibrosis and cirrhosis. It cured patients who had difficult-to treat subtypes and those patients whose hepatitis C has not cleared despite trying other treatments.

Consultant hepatologist, Prof. Suzanne Norris at St James's Hospital, Dublin said many patients involved in the AbbVie trial were Irish. Two leading hepatitis C clinicians who attended the conference termed the novel treatment as 'revolutionary' and 'game-changing'.

Prof. Norris said in 1980s, they did not have much to do to treat hepatitis C. But now, they have developed combination treatment take takes three months or even less with 95% accuracy which is quite incredible.

Many other companies have been trying developing combination treatment. One of them is sofosbuvir, developed by Gilead. Currently, the therapy is undergoing assessment at the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics.