Conditions: Hepatitis C
Keywords: Hepatitis C TMC435 Peginterferon alpha-2a PegIFNalpha-2a RBV Ribavirin Placebo
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 386
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of 4 different regimens of TMC435 in combination with peginterferon alfa-2a (PegIFNα-2a) and ribavirin (RBV), defined as the proportion of patients with sustained virologic response at Week 72 (patients with undetectable plasma HCV RNA \[less than 25 IU per mL undetectable\] at the end of treatment and at Week 72), compared to the control group receiving PegIFN and RBV in combination with TMC435-matched placebo.

Detailed description:
This is a randomized (study medication assigned by chance), 5-arm, double-blind (neither investigator nor the participant knows the treatment that the participant receives), placebo-controlled (an inactive substance that is compared with the study medication to test whether the study medication has a real effect in clinical study) study to compare the efficacy, tolerability and safety of different TMC435 regimens combined with peginterferon alfa-2a (PegIFNα-2a) and ribavirin (RBV) versus PegIFNα-2a plus RBV alone in adult treatment-naive patients with chronic genotype 1 HCV infection. The study mainly consists of 3 phases: screening phase (approximately 6 weeks), treatment phase (up to 48 weeks), and follow up phase (up to 48 weeks). In the treatment phase, patients will be divided in to 5 different arms in a 1:1:1:1:1 randomized ratio. In treatment arms 1 and 2, patients will receive 12 weeks of therapy with TMC435 along with PegIFNα 2a and RBV followed by treatment with PegIFNα 2a, RBV, and TMC435-matched placebo. In treatment arms 3 and 4, patients will receive 24 weeks of therapy with TMC435, PegIFNα 2a, and RBV. In treatment arm 5 (control group), patients will receive PegIFNα 2a and RBV for 48 weeks and TMC435 matched placebo for the first 24 weeks. Collection of blood samples for efficacy evaluations will be done at scheduled visits throughout the study. Safety evaluations for adverse events, clinical laboratory tests, physical examination, vital signs and electrocardiogram will be monitored throughout the study. The total duration of the study will be up to approximately 72 weeks after initiation of treatment.

Arms:
arm 1: Participants will receive TMC435 75 mg once daily with PegIFNα-2a (P) once weekly and ribavirin (R) twice daily for 12 weeks followed by Placebo once daily and PR for 12 weeks. Treatment with PR was stopped at Week 24 for participants who met response-guided treatment (RGT) criteria. All other participants continued PR until Week 48. arm 2: Participants will receive TMC435 75 mg once daily with PegIFNα-2a (P) once weekly and ribavirin (R) twice daily for 24 weeks. Treatment with PR was stopped at Week 24 for participants who met response-guided treatment (RGT) criteria. All other participants continued PR until Week 48. arm 3: Participants will receive TMC435 150 mg once daily with PegIFNα-2a (P) once weekly and ribavirin (R) twice daily for 12 weeks followed Placebo and PR for 12 weeks. Treatment with PR was stopped at Week 24 for participants who met response-guided treatment (RGT) criteria. All other participants continued PR until Week 48. arm 4: Participants will receive TMC435 150 mg once daily with PegIFNα-2a (P) and ribavirin (R) for 24 weeks. Treatment with PR was stopped at Week 24 for participants who met response-guided treatment (RGT) criteria. All other participants continued PR until Week 48. arm 5: Participants will receive Placebo once daily with PegIFNα-2a (P) and ribavirin (R) for 24 weeks followed by PR until Week 48.

Interventions: intervention 1: TMC435 intervention 2: Ribavirin (R) intervention 3: PegIFNα-2a (P) intervention 4: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: TMC435 will be administered as one or two 75 mg capsules orally, once daily, for 12 or 24 weeks. intervention 2: Ribavirin (R) will be administered as 200 mg tablets (5 to 6 tablets) orally, twice daily, for 48 weeks. intervention 3: PegIFNα-2a (P) 180 micrograms will be administered as a subcutaneous (under the skin) injection, once weekly for 48 weeks. intervention 4: Placebo capsules identical in appearance to TMC435 capsule will be administered orally, once daily, for 48 weeks.

Protocol document: