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Tailored Hepatitis C Therapy May Cut Treatment Time in Half
Posted 14 Sep 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14 – Patients infected with hepatitis C virus who have an early favorable response to a new three-drug regimen can be cured of the disease in half the normal time, a new study says. In the multinational study, researchers showed that tailoring patients' treatment regimen to their response to the drugs, which is known as response-guided therapy, enabled many patients to cut treatment time in half and still achieve the same cure rates. The paper was published Sept. 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine. "Patients treated with this regimen who clear virus from their blood by 4 weeks of therapy and who remain virus negative after 12 weeks of therapy can shorten total treatment time from 48 to 24 weeks and have an excellent chance of hepatitis C virus cure," said the study's lead author, Dr. Kenneth E. Sherman, Gould Professor of Medicine and director of the digestive ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatitis C, Incivek, Pegasys, Ribavirin, Victrelis, PegIntron, Copegus, Telaprevir, Rebetol, Peginterferon Alfa-2B, Virazole, Rebetron, Ribasphere, Boceprevir, Peginterferon Alfa-2A
Top Hepatitis C Treatments Equally Effective
Posted 22 Jul 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, July 22 – A landmark hepatitis C virus study shows that the top two treatment options are equally effective and safe. The long-awaited study, thought to be the largest of its kind, is important for the 180 million people worldwide – 4 million in the United States – who are infected with hepatitis C virus and at risk for liver scarring, organ failure and death. Hepatitis C is America's leading cause of liver failure, liver cancer and liver transplantation. The disease is transmitted by contact with blood through sexual activities, drug use or personal care items. The study of 3,070 adults at Johns Hopkins and 118 other U.S. medical centers showed that treating patients with either of the two standard antiviral therapies is safe and helps prevent liver damage. The report appears online July 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The drug therapies – peginterferon ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatitis C, Pegasys, PegIntron, Copegus
Hepatitis C Therapy Useless for Some
Posted 3 Dec 2008 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 3 – Maintenance therapy using low-dose peginterferon doesn't help patients with advanced chronic hepatitis C who haven't responded to an initial round of treatment, new research suggests. The study also showed a surprising health decline in patients with liver disease over the course of four years. "This course of treatment had been adopted by a number of doctors in the U.S. and in other countries, though it had yet to be proven to work. That practice should be stopped, based on the results of this trial. There is no rationale for using maintenance therapy. The treatment is clearly ineffective," study author Dr. Adrian Di Bisceglie, chief of hepatology and co-director of the Liver Center at Saint Louis University, said in a university news release. About half of patients with chronic hepatitis C fully recover after an initial course of peginterferon and ribavirin ... Read more
Related support groups: Hepatitis C, Pegasys, PegIntron