AstraZeneca Annual Report and Form 20-F Information 2008

Hepatitis C virus (HCV)

HCV infects an estimated 170 million people worldwide and the current market for HCV therapy exceeds $2 billion annually. However, therapy for the strains that predominate in the US and Western Europe require 12 months’ treatment and produces a durable cure in only 50% of patients. Key opinion leaders expect the current standard of treatment (interferon plus ribavirin) to change to a form of combination therapy involving one or more new mechanism of action direct-acting anti-virals and there are several small and large pharmaceutical companies with varying HCV pipelines focused on such therapies. A future paradigm of combinations of anti-virals as standard care offers the opportunity for several new therapies to be widely used.