For 5 years we have been fortunate to be living what could be the beginning of a happy ending for the hepatitis C movie. It is not precisely the fortune manager of having reached this point in the movie, but the research and the development of new drugs that burst onto the market 5 years ago. Hepatitis C is a disease that affects some 170 million people worldwide. Approximately 700,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. The virus that causes hepatitis C causes chronic infection in a high percentage of infected patients, many of whom will remain asymptomatic for decades before developing complications such as cirrhosis or liver cancer.

During the end of the 20th century, hepatitis C was synonymous with serious long-term health problems deadline and in some cases these patients could be cured with long and difficult to bear treatments using drugs such as interferon. Over the years, new methods of research could be developed to fight this virus. New molecules capable of acting against the hepatitis C virus, the so-called direct-acting antivirals, were discovered. In 2011, the first drugs of this subject, telaprevir and boceprevir, were marketed, greatly increasing the cure rate of infected patients. However, although a higher percentage of treated individuals responded favorably to treatment and were cured, they still had to suffer abundant adverse effects during the year or so of therapy.

Advances and the research continued to give birth in 2014 to a second generation of drugs led by sofosbuvir with the ability to end the infection by this virus in more patients, since the duration of treatments was reduced to 2-6 months. Together with the greater effectiveness of the new antivirals, interferon-free therapies began to be implemented, and therefore, free of the problems that hindered or prevented the completion of the treatments carried out. We currently have more than seven highly effective interferon-free antiviral combinations available on the market. However, the pharmaceutical industry and numerous groups at research continue to develop new molecules, so the arsenal of drugs against infection will increase over the next few years. In addition to the overall good response to treatment, it is important to note that every patient can have a significant clinical benefit after cure. Those who are in the early stages of the disease may have a complete remission of their clinical picture. Others will still be exposed to the risk of complications after cure, but it has been observed that they will significantly improve their liver function and may not require organ transplantation. However, it is important to prevent these cured individuals from reinfecting or aggravating their status by alcohol consumption.

Historically, hepatitis C virus infection has been related to transfusions contaminated with this virus before its existence was known, the use of parenteral drugs or other circumstances related to the healthcare environment. Currently, any biological product infused into a patient is studied to check that it is not contaminated with this virus; however, there is still a long way to go to eradicate this disease. In order to do so, different events related to its prevention and diagnosis should take place. On the one hand, the development of a vaccine against hepatitis C is a goal longed for by the academic community, since the disease can currently only be prevented through interventions aimed at reducing or avoiding the exhibition in high-risk population groups. On the other hand, there are millions of people infected with hepatitis C virus who are unaware of their infection status so screening strategies for infection should be carried out to prevent them from being source of future infections. And they should not only be carried out on high-risk populations, but also on the entire population born before 1965, as recommended in 2012 by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (USA).

Therefore, the research is a major player in this movie to be able to move from the era of antivirals to the era of eradication of the infection. The development and implementation of new treatments with more than 90% success rate, early diagnosis and preventive strategies will allow us to see the end of this film in the future.