A drug combination therapy for hepatitis C cured almost half of the patients tested. Experts say the results described in tomorrow New England Journal of Medicine , make a good case to give both ribavirin and interferon alfa-2b as a standard treatment. But they note that more effective drugs will be needed to eliminate the virus in all patients
One of the most common infections in the world., Hepatitis C is carried by about 170 million people . While most people have no symptoms, about 20% develop chronic inflammation that scars and destroys the liver. The virus kills about 10,000 people each year. Until recently, the only accepted treatment was 6 months interferon repeated injections to stimulate an immune response against the virus. This approach, experts say, is able to cure less than 20% of patients who undergo this. Recent clinical trials have shown that the antiviral ribavirin may enhance the effectiveness of interferon, but few patients were tested.
Two teams have now studied the combo drug in randomized controlled trials. John McHutchinson the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California, gave daily doses of the association or interferon alone in 912 previously untreated patients. After 6 months the combination had cleared the virus from the blood of 31% of the subjects in this group. "For a chronic condition, we have something that is very impressive," said McHutchinson. Another trial, conducted by Gary Davis of the University of Florida, Gainesville, tried the combo drug on 345 patients who had been treated successfully with interferon alone, but later relapse. This cured 49% of patients. (the success rate is higher than in the Scripps trial because the relapsed patients Florida trial have been known to respond to interferon.) the studies were funded in part by Schering-Plough, which makes both drugs.
the results represent "a breakthrough in the treatment of hepatitis C," says Jake Liang, a researcher at the National Institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases. But he says it will take the discovery of new drugs to see the most dramatic improvements in treatment.
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