EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF COMBINATION THERAPY OF INTERFERON-ALPHA 2B PLUS RIBAVIRIN FOR CHRONIC HEPATITIS C

Introduction: The aim of this study is to assess the therapeutic efficacy and safety of a particular brand of IFN alpha (PDferon B®) in combination with ribavirin (RlBA) on Iranian patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC). The addition of RIBA to the standard treatment with interferon (IFN) alpha led to an improvement in sustained virologic response (SVR) from less than 20% with IFN monotherapy to 40-45% in combination therapy. Methods: 69 naive patients aged 18 years or older with CHC were enrolled and treated with 3 mega units (MU) IFN alpha-2b three times a week plus 800-1200 mg RIBA per day for 48 weeks and the patients were followed for 6 months. The efficacy was evident at the end of treatment and at the end of follow-up in terms of sustained normalization of alanine aminotransferase and sustained serum H CV-RNA loss. Results: The rates of sustained biochemical and virologic response were 63% and 61%, respectively. Virologic response was 83.1% and 86.4% at weeks 12 and 48 as well. No patients had serious complications. Conclusion: Although we had no control group using standard IFN alone, our preliminary findings showed an acceptable and promising response rate to PDferon. On the other hand, it seems that adverse events with PDferon are as other standard IFNs.