469 Short course of pegylated alfa interferon in acute HCV hepatitis

Efficacy of a 24-week course of PEG-interferon α-2b monotherapy in patients with acute hepatitis C after failure of spontaneous clearance

“…Compared with our 6-month course, a 3-month course of PEG-IFN a-2b treatment seems to be less effective. In fact, preliminary data has shown that with the latter approach a sustained virological response was achieved in only 61% of patients, as 33% relapsed after therapy discontinuation [20]. To the contrary, data from a recent Japanese study demonstrated that an even shorter course of daily injections with 6 MU of standard IFN-a for only 4 weeks is effective in 87% of patients [12].…”

Treatment of acute hepatitis C infection: more pieces of the puzzle?

“…The two studies in the current issue of this journal suggest that a 24 week course of PegIFN is effective [10]. In contrast, a preliminary report indicated that a 12 week course of PegIFN may be significantly less effective [31]. In another study, reasonable response rates (87%) were achieved with a 4 week course of therapy utilizing daily high doses of IFN (6 MU) [7].…”