Conditions: Hepatitis C, Chronic
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 385
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This study will examine the viral kinetics and pharmacokinetics of Pegasys plus ribavirin and PEG-Intron plus ribavirin in interferon-naive patients with CHC. The anticipated time on study treatment is 3-12 months, and the target sample size is 100-500 individuals.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Participants received Peginterferon alfa-2a (40 kD) \[Pegasys\] at a dosage of 180 microgram (μg), subcutaneously (SC), once a week plus Ribavirin \[Copegus\] 1000 or 1200 milligram (mg)/day), orally, \[according to body weight, lesser than or greater than/equal to (\< or \>/=) 75 kilogram (kg), respectively\] twice daily during the randomized treatment period for 12 weeks. Participants who completed the randomized treatment period of 12 weeks and wished to continue therapy were given Peginterferon alfa-2a 180 μg SC once weekly plus Ribavirin 1000 or 1200 mg/day orally (\< or \>/=75 kg body weight, respectively twice daily for an additional 36 weeks to complete a full 48-week treatment course. After treatment completion, participants were followed-up for safety for 24 weeks. arm 2: Participants received Peginterferon alfa-2b (12 kD) \[PEG-Intron\] at a dosage of 1.5 μg/kg SC once weekly plus Ribavirin \[Rebetol\] 1000 or 1200 mg/day orally (\< or \>/=75 kg body weight, respectively) twice daily during the randomized treatment period for 12 weeks. Participants who completed the randomized treatment period of 12 weeks and wished to continue therapy were given Peginterferon alfa-2a 180 μg SC once weekly plus Ribavirin 1000 or 1200 mg/day orally (\< or \>/=75 kg body weight, respectively) twice daily for an additional 36 weeks to complete a full 48-week treatment course. After treatment completion, participants were followed-up for safety for 24 weeks.

Interventions: intervention 1: Ribavirin intervention 2: Peginterferon alfa-2b (PEG-Intron) intervention 3: Ribavirin intervention 4: Peginterferon alfa-2a [Pegasys]
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 1000/1200mg/day po intervention 2: 1.5 micrograms/kg sc weekly intervention 3: 1000/1200mg/day po intervention 4: 180 micrograms sc weekly

Protocol document: