This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Hepatitis C treatment may be successful without pegylated interferon

SAN FRANCISCO — Hepatitis C was successfully treated without pegylated interferon-alpha, according to study results presented here.

PSI-7977, a uridine nucleotide analogue, achieved rapid declines in hepatitis C RNA when administered with or without pegylated interferon, Edward Gane, MD, said at The Liver Meeting.

While investigating the optimum duration of pegylated interferon when PSI-7977 is combined with ribavirin, researchers observed that PSI-7977 with ribavirin elicited rapid declines in hepatitis C RNA when administered with or without pegylated interferon.

Thirty-four of the 40 subjects had results at week 4, including all 10 of the pegylated interferon -free subjects. Antiviral response rates were similar at week 4 in the pegylated interferon-free and pegylated interferon-containing arms. A majority of subjects (32 of 40) achieved hepatitis C RNA less than the limit of detection by week 2.

“High on-treatment response and lack of viral resistance, even in the absence of [pegylated interferon], confirm the high barrier to resistance in this patient population,” the researchers wrote.

The study authors said that their findings warrant more research into PSI-7977 with abbreviated interferon duration, as monotherapy or with other direct-acting antiviral therapies, in patients with all hepatitis C genotypes.

Disclosure: The research was supported by Pharmasset. Gane reported financial links with the company, as well as with Gilead, Riche, Janssen-Cilag and Boehringer-Ingelheim. Lawitiz reported financial links with Abbott Laboratories, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Biolex Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, GlobeImmune, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inhibitex Pharmaceuticals, Medarex, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Pharmasset, Roche, Schering-Plough, Santaris Pharmaceuticals, Scynexis Pharmaceuticals, Tibotec, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, ViroChem Pharma and ZymoGenetics. Lim reported financial links with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Vertex, Merck, Tibotec, GlobeImmune, GSK and Zymnogenetics.