An anti-viral drug for the treatment of hepatitis C, developed by an Egyptian team, could slash the cost of treating one of Egypt's most common chronic diseases, says Reem Leila As part of the National Hepatitis Committee's (NHC) attempts to combat the spread of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and provide care to people who would not otherwise receive it, agreement was reached last week to begin clinical tests on a new anti-viral drug developed by an Egyptian team of hepatologists. Hepatitis C is a lethal virus that can cause liver cirrhosis and cancer. Egypt has one of the highest rates of HCV infection in the world: according to Abdel-Rahman Shahin, official spokesman of the Ministry of Health, an estimated 15 per cent of the population, some 8-10 million people, are affected by the virus. While there is no vaccine against hepatitis C anti-viral drugs can be used for the treatment of cases of HCV, though the cost is high and current drugs effective in only 30-50 per cent of cases. "It is hoped," says Gamal Shawqi Abdel-Nasser, head of the Egyptian team that is developing the new treatment, "that the new drug could have a success rate as high as 68 per cent." The 20-member hepatologist team, working in cooperation with the Mubarak Scientific Academy and National Organisation for Drug Control and Research (NODCR), has developed the new Cytovirin anti-viral, extracted from blue and green algae, for almost 12 years. The drug, which has been tested on animals, will now enter clinical trails. Six liver centres affiliated to the Health Ministry have been selected to take part in the tests, with 600 patients initially selected for the trials. The patients must be between the ages of 21 and 60 and be suffering from an early stage of the disease. Patients suffering from fibrosis, and pregnant or breast-feeding women, are excluded from participating. Though the price of Interferon, the most commonly used HCV drug, recently fell from LE1,500 to LE480 per dose, the length of treatment makes it prohibitively expensive for many hepatitis sufferers. Should the new drug eventually be licensed, Abdel-Nasser estimates that a full course of treatment will cost around LE1,000. "The tests will last for almost 12 months at the cost of nearly LE2 million. It is not necessary for all patients tested to receive 12 months of medication, some may require the drug for shorter periods, depending on the health status of each patient," says Abdel-Nasser. The Health Ministry, says Shahin, has already examined whether the drug is likely to have any harmful side effects and concluded that its levels of toxicity and contra indications are such that it is now safe to proceed with human testing. Abdel-Nasser has revealed that though the team that is developing the drug has received many lucrative offers they have turned them all down, having registered a patent themselves in 1999.
