26th Annual New Treatments in Chronic Liver Disease

Course Overview

This CME conference will review new medications and therapies that are available, or will soon be available, and discuss their comparative values. The results of trials using new drugs to treat chronic viral hepatitis B and C, non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and complications of end-stage liver disease will be reviewed in detail. New Treatments in Chronic Liver Disease is a comprehensive yet concise program for updating physicians on these and other commonly encountered problems in the treatment of liver diseases.

There will be a fundamental change in treatment of chronic renal hepatitis c in 2011 with the addition of direct-acting antiviral (DAAs) drugs to current standard of care. There will be two separate lectures devoted to this topic this year. The first will be on triple therapies which will be approved in 2011. The second will be on combination therapies using two or more DAA’s.

We anticipate that there will be a number of demands placed on treatment providers which will be new, including different pretreatment predictors, viral resistance monitoring, rash and anemia management, and learning different therapeutic regimens. Looking beyond 2011, we see numerous combinations of DAA’s in development including protease inhibitors, nucleoside polymerase inhibitors, non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors and N55A inhibitors. All of these agents are entering phase 3 development rapidly. In hepatitis B, the treatments have not changed but there are more mature data available on renal resistance, long-term HBsAg loss and clinical outcomes. New therapies for NAFLD and NASH are in development and will be explored. The explosive growth of NASH in the US has created a significant need for effective drug therapy. The diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma will be updated as this disease is one of the few cancers with a growing incidence in the US. New oral therapy is moving this field forward. There will be an update on non-malignant hepatic tumors and their management as these are commonly seen in practice.

2011 Conference Highlights

* Comprehensive presentations of the latest advances in hepatology with renowned faculty chosen for their expertise as well as teaching skills.

* Controversies presented on the treatment of Decompensated HCV, Acute Alcoholic Hepatitis and Hepatic Encephalopathy.

* Audience Response System incorporated for instant feedback and interactive learning.

* Endorsed by the American College of Gastroenterology

* Attendees will have opportunities to network with each other and interact with speakers to discuss topics from the course.