Preview – New wave of oral hepatitis C drugs near U.S. approval

By Deena Beasley (Reuters) – Patients infected with the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus should soon have better treatment options as new tablets from Gilead Sciences and others approach U.S. regulatory approval. Gilead’s experimental drug sofosbuvir is the first of a new wave of oral therapies to be considered by the Food and Drug Administration, which has convened an advisory panel for Friday. The treatment is seen as the crown jewel of Gilead’s $11 billion purchase of biotechnology company Pharmasset and aims to replace some of the pills and injections now on the market. …