Dec 14, 2015 10:27 AM EST By Rashmi Kalia, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research by researchers at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray has led to a new cure for Hepatitis C there's new hope for patients with advanced liver disease due to the chronic viral infection, Times of India reports.

Dr. Michael Charlton, director of the Liver Transplantation Program at Intermountain Medical Center Researchers at Intermountain Medical Center have found a new all-oral cure that results in high cure rates of hepatitis C virus infection in patients following treatment.

About 2.7 million people in the United States have a chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

"During the study, liver function was seen to stabilize or improve in the great majority of patients following treatment," said Dr. Charlton, who served as principal investigator of the ASTRAL-4 trial, a study between Intermountain Medical Center and some of the leading academic medical centers across the nation.

The research study included investigators at 50 sites throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

"Although longer follow-up is needed, the ability to achieve a high cure rate of hepatitis C in patients with advanced liver disease - and the observation of early stabilization and improvement of liver function - raises the possibility of decreasing the number of patients with hepatitis C who need liver transplantation."

The research team published results of the nationwide study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Charlton will announce results of the study at a press briefing at Intermountain Medical Center on Friday at 11 a.m.

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