Up to four million people in the United States are infected with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and the number of infected people worldwide is approaching 200 million. Chronic HCV infection is a major public health problem, accounting for up to half of all cases of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and liver cancer. The standard regimen of interferon and ribavirin is costly and plagued by side effects.

eXagen is developing two immune response tests for the Hepatitis C virus that will assist health care providers in identifing those patients most likely to respond to the standard treatment regimen.