In this study, 56 percent of patients who had undetectable virus (HCV-RNA) after 12 weeks went on to achieve SVR with a 48-week course of therapy.
Of the first 1,354 patients retreated, approximately 38 percent had undetectable virus at week 12.
Importantly, patients who did not have undetectable virus at 12 weeks had little chance of achieving SVR.
Overall, 23 percent of patients achieved SVR.
PEG-INTRON® has been approved by the USFDA as monotherapy and for use in combination therapy with REBETOL® (800 mg/day) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in patients with compensated liver disease who are at least 18 years of age.
The clinical data from the EPIC3 retreatment study are being presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).(2)
Find more details from the press release.
(1) Sustained virologic response (SVR) is defined as undetectable virus(HCV-RNA) levels in the blood at 6 months after the end of therapy.
(2) HCV-RNA Negativity After 12 Weeks of Therapy Is the Best Predictor of Sustained Viral Response (SVR) in the Retreatment of Previous Interferon alfa/Ribavirin Nonresponders (NR): Results From the EPIC3 Program; T. Poynard et al.; Poster No. 1123; American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) 2006.
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