Aethlon Medical to Initiate Hepatitis C Trials

Aethlon Medical plans to initiate clinical trials to treat patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in India.

Sunil Sawhney, the former director of Boston Scientific India, and other regulatory advisers from Qualtran, will manage the HCV trials in India, as well as trials related to the treatment of HIV, the AIDS virus. Site selection for both trials is underway, and patient enrollment is expected to begin in the coming months.

According to the World Health Organization, HCV is a global disease with approximately 170 million persons or 3 percent of the world's population infected. It is estimated that up to 50 percent of the infected population is not responsive to treatment with current drug regimens.