Abbott oral hepatitis C regimen has high cure rate-study

Oct 15 (Reuters) - An all oral regimen of hepatitis C medicines developed by Abbott Laboratories led to high cure rates in both new patients and those in whom prior treatment failed, according to initial results from a midstage study.

Shares in Abbott rose nearly 4 percent after the results, which will be presented next month at a major liver disease meeting. The findings should help cement Abbott as a major player in the race to develop an interferon-free treatment regimen for the serious liver disease.

After 12 weeks of treatment with three Abbott direct acting antiviral medicines plus the older drug ribavirin, 99 percent of previously untreated patients, and 93 percent of those who did not respond to older drugs achieved a sustained virologic response, which is considered cured, according to available data from a brief summary, or abstract of the study.