On Wednesday, American scientists and researchers revealed that they have been able to identify a new class of medicines that had managed to block the hepatitis C virus from replicating in experiments carried out in the laboratory.

Activity was discovered by the team within an important protein of the Hepatitis C Virus, or HCV, which is required by the virus in order to reproduce. In addition, scientists also identified a tiny molecule that has the capability to inhibit the replication of the virus. It was then that senior author Dr. Jeffrey Glenn of Stanford University, and his team, set out to find compounds that could curb the protein from working.

"The compounds we discovered represent a new class of potential drugs that appear to specifically attack the virus's ability to set up shop in the liver cells. Hepatitis C creates a novice structure in the infected cell where it replicates and it looks like this class of compounds interferes with the virus's ability to establish that structure", said Dr. Glenn.

Details of the research have been reported in the online journal Science Translational Medicine.