Interferon-alpha plus ribavirin combination therapy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in interferon non-responders.
OBJECTIVE
Only a small fraction of patients with chronic hepatitis C have a sustained biochemical or virologic response to a standard course of alpha-interferon therapy. Thus, alternative treatments are needed particularly for non-responders. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of alpha-interferon in combination with ribavirin in patients who had not responded to a previous course of alpha-interferon.


METHODS
In this prospective open trial, 26 patients who had not responded to a previous course of interferon monotherapy, were treated for 6 months with a combination of alpha-interferon 2b, 5 MU thrice weekly, plus ribavirin 1000 or 1200 mg daily. They were followed-up for at least 6 months after therapy.


RESULTS
At the end of treatment, 3 patients (12%) had normal aminotransferase levels and two (8%) tested negative for HCV-RNA in serum. After 6 months of follow-up, all patients had HCV viremia and only one (3.8%) was still in biochemical remission. One patient dropped out because of side effects and another was lost during follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
alpha-interferon-ribavirin combination is ineffective in treating patients who had had no response to interferon monotherapy.
Hasan
F
F
Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Kuwait University, PO Box 24923, Safat, Kuwait.
Asker
H
H
al Shamali
M
M
al Kalaoui
M
M
al Nakib
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017211:Treatment Failure; D019562:Viral Load
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012254:Ribavirin