Study: Experimental hepatitis C treatment cures more with less side effects

<br>An experimental new combination of drugs for hepatitis C cures more patients with fewer side effects than the standard treatment for the potentially deadly, liver-destroying infection, researchers

Thursday, September 26th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

An experimental new combination of drugs for hepatitis C cures more patients with fewer side effects than the standard treatment for the potentially deadly, liver-destroying infection, researchers say.

The new treatment could give doctors a more potent weapon against the virus at a time when experts are forecasting a surge in cases of hepatitis C liver damage over the next few years.

The experimental treatment includes weekly injections of Pegasys, a long-acting form of interferon call pegylated interferon. It could be approved for U.S. sale next month. A similar drug, Peg-Intron, went on sale last year. Both are given with daily antiviral pills called ribavirin.

Six months after the 48-week treatment stopped, Pegasys and ribavirin together eliminated all traces of the virus in 56 percent of patients.

That compares with 44 percent for patients receiving what had been the standard treatment: ribavirin and thrice-weekly shots of a shorter-acting interferon. Twenty-nine percent of those in a third group who received Pegasys shots and dummy pills were apparently cured.

``This is one of the first times where we have more than half the people we treat have a good response,'' said lead researcher Dr. Michael W. Fried, director of liver disease treatment at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Pegasys, Peg-Intron and regular interferon have common, serious side effects, including fatigue, flu-like symptoms, nausea, irritability, depression and psychiatric problems. Flu symptoms and depression were slightly less common with Pegasys.

A total of 1,121 patients at 81 medical centers worldwide took part in the study, reported in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was funded by Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company that is developing Pegasys and a new brand of ribavirin.

Fried said Pegasys offers a key advantage: After 12 weeks of treatment, doctors can tell which patients it probably will cure. The others can stop the six- to 12-month treatment, sparing themselves serious side effects.

Dr. Lincoln P. Miller, director of infectious disease treatment at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, said more patients will probably be put on pegylated interferon because it is more potent, more predictable, causes fewer side effects and requires fewer self-injections.

Hepatitis C is transmitted through sexual intercourse, the sharing of intravenous needles and accidental needle punctures among medical workers. Transfusions also spread the virus before blood screening started in 1992.

An estimated 4 million Americans have hepatitis C, which rarely is discovered until the person has blood tests for an unrelated reason. By then, the virus often has damaged the liver.

Hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver transplants and kills around 10,000 Americans annually. That toll is expected to triple by 2010.

``What we're looking at is a huge burden of leftover cases from the heydays of I.V. drug abuse and (unscreened) transfusions,'' said Dr. Caroline Riley, associate medical director of the American Liver Foundation. ``We're very pleased to have another drug to use.''

Riley and Miller expect even better, safer drugs to be available in several years.

Schering-Plough Corp. makes Peg-Intron. Pegasys and Peg-Intron have slightly different structures, but experts believe they will be equally effective.