Hepatitis C Cure Announced

A new study has found that the use of peginterferon alfa-2a alone, or in combination with ribavirin, can provide a cure for hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU; Richmond, USA) and about 40 other sites worldwide conducted a long-term follow-up study to determine if the virus re-emerges in patients who have achieved treatment success. The study reviewed 997 patients, either mono-infected with chronic HCV or co-infected HCV and HIV, who achieved a sustained viral response (SVR) following treatment with either Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) monotherapy or combination therapy with Pegasys and ribavirin. Pegasys is manufactured by Roche (Basel, Switzerland).

After successful treatment, researchers monitored serum levels of HCV once a year for an average of 4.1 years. Of the 997 patients, 989 maintained undetectable levels of HCV. The remaining eight patients tested positive for HCV at an average of two years following treatment completion. The study found that these eight patients exhibited no consistency in age, gender, or HCV genotype, and it has not yet been determined if these patients experienced a relapse or if they were re-infected with HCV. The study was presented at the 38th annual Digestive Disease Week Conference, held during May 2007 in Washington DC (USA).

"We at VCU are encouraged by this data because it is rare in the treatment of life-threatening viral diseases that we can tell patients they may be cured,” said lead researcher Mitchell Shiffman, M.D., a professor in the VCU School of Medicine. "In hepatitis C today, we are able to help some patients achieve an outcome that effectively enables them to put their disease behind them.”

Hepatitis C is a life-threatening, blood-borne disease of the liver, which is transmitted by exposure to blood. A particularly dangerous form of viral hepatitis, it is caused by an RNA virus. Hepatitis C can lead to serious, permanent liver damage, and in many cases, death. More than 80% of those who are infected will progress to chronic liver disease.


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