The end of the beginning for hepatitis C treatment.

These are extraordinary times in the history of HCV drug development. We waited 13 years between the approval of ribavirin in 1998 and the approval of telaprevir and boceprevir in 2011. The trajectory of drug discovery and clinical trials has gone from exponential to warp speed since the EASL meeting in April 2011, and these two articles are perfect examples of what has changed the world of hepatitis C; interferon-free combination therapy and in one of the trials, leading to eradication of the virus.