Offering new hopes to millions of people infected with Hepatitis C, a two-drug combination by Merck & Co to treat the infectious liver disease has showed a cure rate of 98% in a mid-stage trial.

The results of the 12-week study called C-Worthy were presented on Thursday at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in London.

In the study, 44 patients were treated with MK-5172 and MK-8742 once a day for 12 weeks, where 43 of them achieved sustained virologic response (SVR), which is considered cured or a 98% cure.

Merck also said that when the two drugs were given to some patients along with ribavirin, an older virus-fighting drug, it showed a 94% cure rate.

Gilead Sciences Inc, AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co are also developing a new generation of all-oral hepatitis C treatments that in previous trials have demonstrated cure rates in excess of 90%.

The drug maker said after analysing the results of the study, it has begun to initiate a phase 3 trial.