Medicinal & Aromatic Plants
Open Access

Abstract

After HCV Eradication with Sovaldi^®, Can Herbs Regenerate Damaged Liver, Minimize Side Effects and Reduce the Bill?

Nada M Mostafa and Abdel Nasser Singab

Objective: Hepatitis C virus is a major health burden. It has infected millions of people worldwide with the highest prevalence in Egypt. Sofosbuvir (Sovaldi®) has been recently approved for treating chronic hepatitis C virus infections. Herbal medicine has been searched for centuries for the remedy of liver diseases.

Key findings: Plants contain phytochemicals that proved to demonstrate hepatoprotective activity in vitro in various hepatotoxic models. Herbal drugs also proved efficacy in many clinical trials in reducing the viral load and improving the clinical manifestations in patients suffering hepatitis C virus.

Conclusions: A hypothesis is postulated for the possibility of the use of a herbal mixture of plants, which are known for their hepatoprotective activity, in a combination therapy with directly acting antiviral drugs such as Sovaldi® to help regenerate the liver, improve the clinical condition and reduce both the cost and side effects for hepatitis C virus patients.