Progress in Drug Research is a prestigious book series which provides extensive expert-written reviews on a wide spectrum of highly topical areas in current pharmaceutical and pharmacological research. Founded in 1959 by its current editor, the series has moved from its initial focus on medicinal chemistry to a much wider scope. Today it encompasses all fields concerned with the development of new therapeutic drugs and the elucidation of their mechanisms of action, reflecting the increasingly complex nature of modern drug research. Invited authors present their biological, chemical,...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was first identified in 1989 as the etiologic agent of non-A, non-B hepatitis 1] and is currently recognized as the leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. In contrast to hepatitis B virus infection, in which only about 5% of adult infections become chronic, more than 80% of HCV-infected patients develop chronic hepatitis. Moreover, 20-50% of those persistently infected with HCV will develop liver cirrhosis and hepatocellu- lar carcinoma (HCC) 2]. It is estimated that there are 10,000 deaths in the USA per year due to chronic liver failure or HCC 3]. In...