A woman with the debilitating illness hepatitis C says she is hepatitis-free after participating in a study.
Nearly 4 million Americans are believed to have hepatitis C, a virus that attacks the liver.
Gina Palmer Douglas said she was diagnosed with the illness 15 years ago, but no medications proved effective in treating it.
"I tried a drug combination of interferon and Ribavirin before that, which is 48 weeks of being really sick with the flu," she said.
Dr. Michael Chartlon was part of an experimental drug study, and Douglas was accepted as a test subject.
"This is something which had nearly cost her her life, and it looked like it was threatening to do exactly that," he said. "She had severe hepatitis C injury to the liver. That was what this study was: Everyone in this clinical trial had severe liver disease from hepatitis C."
Douglas is thrilled with the results.
"To have nondetectable virus after that is pretty amazing," she said.
She was one of just over 300 patients across the country who received a new drug compound.
"We're very grateful for patients like Gina," Charlton said. "It's really a partnership. Any advance in medicine is a partnership with patients like Gina who are brave enough to take some risk of an unknown thing."
Doctors say the virus appears to be completely out of Douglas' system. Charlton said patients who have the virus go away during the therapy don't appear to relapse.
Nearly 4 million Americans are believed to have hepatitis C, a virus that attacks the liver.
Gina Palmer Douglas said she was diagnosed with the illness 15 years ago, but no medications proved effective in treating it.
"I tried a drug combination of interferon and Ribavirin before that, which is 48 weeks of being really sick with the flu," she said.
Dr. Michael Chartlon was part of an experimental drug study, and Douglas was accepted as a test subject.
"This is something which had nearly cost her her life, and it looked like it was threatening to do exactly that," he said. "She had severe hepatitis C injury to the liver. That was what this study was: Everyone in this clinical trial had severe liver disease from hepatitis C."
Douglas is thrilled with the results.
"To have nondetectable virus after that is pretty amazing," she said.
She was one of just over 300 patients across the country who received a new drug compound.
"We're very grateful for patients like Gina," Charlton said. "It's really a partnership. Any advance in medicine is a partnership with patients like Gina who are brave enough to take some risk of an unknown thing."
Doctors say the virus appears to be completely out of Douglas' system. Charlton said patients who have the virus go away during the therapy don't appear to relapse.
