Hepatitis C News

When I arrived at work today, there was a release from Roche in my e-mailbox:

PEGASYS/COPEGUS Treatment Gives Hope to Hepatitis C Patients Failing to Respond to PegIntron
Roche announced that treatment with once-weekly PEGASYS and daily COPEGUS can achieve viral clearance in a number of patients who did not respond to initial treatment with PegIntron, another drug commonly used to treat hepatitis C. The study, called REPEAT, revealed that a patient's response to treatment at 12 weeks is a powerful predictor of the eventual outcome: the majority of patients with undetectable virus levels at 12 weeks went on to achieve a sustained virological response (SVR), indicating treatment success. Few patients with detectable virus at 12 weeks achieved SVR. Data from this international study were presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) held in Boston on Nov. 2-6, 2007.

I went in search of Ron Metcalfe's blog and sent him an e-mail. I wasn't able to find the community group that he helped start. I may have the link at home.

I pray I never have to go through that again, but this could be good news for non-responders.

Grace and peace ...