Wenzel and Edmond head the Surveillance and Control of Pathogens of Epidemiologic Importance network. A Virginia Commonwealth University researcher is part of a study that shows the drug peginterferon alfa-2a, also referred to as Pegasys, is superior to other forms of interferon in the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Interferon, alone or in combination with an anti-viral drug, is the only effective therapy for hepatitis C. Published in the Dec. 7 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the study involved 271 patients and 22 U.S., Canadian and Australian medical centers, including VCU s Medical College of Virginia Hospitals. Compared to many previous studies of patients with chronic hepatitis C., this study was unique in that only patients with advanced liver disease, those with advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis, were treated. This alters the interferon drug so that it lasts longer in the body, has fewer side effects and at the same time is more effective against the hepatitis C virus.
Standard interferon is administered three times weekly.
Pegasys needs to be administered only once weekly. Patients are considered to be virus-free or have a sustained viral clearance when the virus doesn t return after drug treatments stop. In this study, patients were treated for 48 weeks with Pegasys and followed for an additional 24 weeks after the treatment ended. The first priority is to eradicate the virus. What we ve learned is that it may be possible for patients to show an improvement in the liver disease following treatment with Pegasys even if this treatment did not get rid of the virus.