Present and future therapy for hepatitis C virus.

The treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has developed enormously over recent years. Early treatment of acute HCV infection with interferon-alpha can prevent chronicity and a significant proportion of patients with chronic HCV can be cured with the current standard therapy consisting of pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin. However, the improvement of current treatment regimens and the development of new antiviral drugs will be essential within the next few years. This review focuses on the present and future concepts for treating HCV infection, including prevention of infection, antiviral therapy of acute and chronic HCV and the management of patients after liver transplantation.