Manal Hamdy al-Sayed, member of the National Committee to Combat Viral Hepatitis, said Egypt is taking part in an advisory committee of the US and EU food and drug administrations to develop new drugs for children of hepatitis C other than Interferon and similar to the Sovaldi and Viekira that are given to adult patients.
“Interferon for children has side effects, which necessitates the discovery of another drug,” she said, adding that new experiments are being conducted for children less than 15 years of age. “We expect to reach positive results in a few months.”
She said there are 6.6 million children in the world infected with hepatitis C according to World Health Organization estimates, with Nigeria in the first place, followed by Egypt, Pakistan and China.
She added that the National Committee to Combat Viral Hepatitis has simplified treatment procedures to make it easier for patients, expecting all patients to be treated with Sovaldi by the second half of this year.
“We have now 38 centers that provide Sovaldi nationwide,” she said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
