Possible Hepatitis C Cure Announced

Results have been announced for a long-term follow-up study designed to monitor for recurrence of Hepatitis C in patients treated with peginterferon (pegylated interferon alfa-2a) either alone or in combination with ribavirin. Data from the study indicated that an average of 4.1 years following completion of successful treatment, only 8 out of 997 patients’ serum tested positive for HCV.

Peginterferon is manufactured by Roche Inc. Approximately 40 research centers worldwide were involved in the project. Announcement of a possible cure was made by Dr. Mitchell Shiffman, M.D., professor at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, and one of the lead investigators. Results of the study were presented at the 38th annual Digestive Disease Week conference in Washington, D.C. which started on Saturday May 19, 2007. Successful treatment was defined, in a press release by DDW, as testing negative for HCV for six months following drug therapy. Approximately 50% of patients treated reached this objective.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne viral infection that causes liver disease, and affects millions of people worldwide. Researchers say the high rate of recovery, and undetectable virus in the blood up to 7 years later, validates the use of the term “cure”. These results mark a significant advance in biomedical research due to the complexity of treating viral diseases.