UQ School of Medicine help find breakthrough treatment for hepatitis C
A breakthrough treatment for hepatitis C that halves treatment time has been developed in an international clinical trial that included the University of Queensland.
The landmark study has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine in a paper co-authored by Professor Darrell Crawford, head of the UQ School of Medicine and director of the Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation.
Professor Crawford said the findings could have a significant, positive impact on millions of patients living with hepatitis C around the world.
“This treatment regime works in half the amount of time as existing treatments with considerably fewer side effects,” Professor Crawford said.
“Current hepatitis C treatments include medications administered by injections for 24 to 48 weeks, which often cause many severe side-effects, such as anxiety and depression.
“Treatment in this study was administered orally for only twelve weeks with less than one per cent of trial participants discontinuing due to side effects.”
The medical research was conducted at 79 sites across the world, including four in Australia.
The Gallipoli Medical Research Foundation’s Clinical Trials Unit, based at Greenslopes Private Hospital, was the first site to enroll a patient outside the USA.
This was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial where all participants had been diagnosed with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) of the type 1 genotype and had not previously taken medications to treat the HCV infection.
Half the participants received the new treatment regime for 12 weeks while the other half did not receive treatment.
The groups were then reversed, thereby allowing all participants to be treated with the new drugs.
The new “triple therapy” treatment was taken in combination with ribavirin (RBV).
It is estimated that 130 to 150 million people worldwide are chronically infected with hepatitis C. (WHO, 2014). In 2011, about 226,700 people in Australia were living with chronic hepatitis C. (The Kirby Institute, 2012).
About the UQ Medical School Program
As of 2015, the University of Queensland intends to implement a Doctor of Medicine (MD) program, a four-year graduate-entry program, which will replace the current four-year Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program.
Did you know that more than 90% of Canadian students who study at UQ Medical School applied via OzTREKK?
Entry Requirements
- Completed degree (Bachelor, Master, PhD)
- GPA equivalent to 5.0 on UQ’s 7.0 scale
- MCAT score (minimum of 8/8/8 or 8/8/M/8) or GAMSAT score (minimum of 50 in each section)
- Compulsory consultative meeting with the UQ School of Medicine
Who Should Apply
Students who have completed their MCAT and have met the minimum MCAT requirements, and those who have completed their studies with a minimum 65% cumulative average are encouraged to apply. Students applying to the UQ MD 2015 intake who will be completing their studies in Spring 2014 are encouraged to start the application process by submitting their UQ Medical School application to OzTREKK.
When you apply via OzTREKK, your complete application is submitted electronically to the University of Queensland—which means its at the university the very next morning!
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