Researchers are studying two new promising drugs that might be alternatives to the side-effects-loaded drug interferon, which is often used to treat people infected with hepatitis C virus. One med is a combination of two drugs, ABT-450/r and ABT-333. The other is sofosbuvir added to ribavirin (another med doctors currently use). Both combinations are examples of targeted therapies.

These therapies are better because they offer shorter treatment time and fewer side effects than current treatments, says Fred Poordad, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. We could live with that.