Prevention of Progression in Chronic Liver Disease

In several liver diseases, the underlying cause cannot always be eliminated, i.e. the progression of liver disease cannot be prevented. This is particularly true for non-responders to the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (HCV). It is relevant for more than 40% of patients with HCV genotype 1 and up to 20% of patients with genotype 2 or 3. Several approaches are now underway to prevent or ameliorate mechanisms of disease progression. In Asia, and particularly in Japan, Glycyrrhizine-SNMC has been widely used for this purpose. At present, SNMC is under clinical evaluation in Europe.