Glossary

ribavirin – drug used to boost the efficacy of pegylated interferon to treat hepatitis C. Given as twice-daily capsules.

antiretrovirals – the common name for any HIV drugs. HIV is a retrovirus, so drugs to fight HIV are called antiretrovirals. Also abbreviated to ARVs.

half-life (T1/2) – the time taken a drug to clear from the highest concentration to half this level. Drugs have different half-lives in different compartments (ie half-life in blood can be different from the half-life inside a cell). It take 5 x the half-live for a drug to be considered cleared.

Direct acting antiviral – See DAA.

bile duct – a tube that carries bile from the liver to the gallbladder and then to the small intestine biopsy: taking a small sample of body tissue for examination and testing in the laboratory