Clinical trial: comparison of weekly once versus twice half-dose weekly administration of pegylated interferon alpha 2b in combination with ribavirin for the treatment of HCV-1 positive patients with chronic hepatitis C

Autor: G, Sebastiani, A, Ferrari, S, Boccato, R, Pistis, A, Alberti
Rok vydání: 2007
Předmět:
Zdroj: Alimentary pharmacologytherapeutics. 26(7)
ISSN: 0269-2813
Popis: Pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) alpha2b is currently used as a once weekly injection in combination with ribavirin for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.To test whether twice half-dose weekly administration may improve the virological response in difficult-to-treat hepatitis C virus-1 patients.Thirty patients were treated with 1.5 microg/kg of PEG-IFN alpha2b given once weekly for 48 weeks (group A) and were compared with 30 patients treated with the same dose of PEG-IFN alpha2b divided in twice weekly doses of 0.75 microg/kg for the initial 4 weeks (group B). All patients were hepatitis C virus-1 positive and received weight-based ribavirin (800-1400 mg/daily).Weekly twice half-dose administration of PEG-IFN alpha2b for the first 4 weeks was associated with lower rates of biochemical and virological response at all time points compared with a once weekly schedule, and with significantly higher rates of in-therapy breakthrough leading to significantly lower rates of end of therapy response (week 48). The rate of sustained virological response was of 56.7% in group A and 36.7% in group B.Weekly twice half-dose administration of PEG-IFN alpha2b is not superior to the standard once weekly schedule, and might be less efficacious.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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