Hepatitis News

Tenofovir works better for hep C patients
A Spanish study has found that patients on tenofovir (plus 3TC or FTC) were more likely to achieve success in hepatitis C therapy than patients on AZT or abacavir (plus 3TC). The study of 719 patients found that people on tenofovir were 70% more likely to achieve a Sustained Viral Response (equivalent to a cure) for hepatitis C than the average patient, 90% more likely than patients on abacavir (though this finding could have been due to chance), and more than twice as likely as patients on AZT or triple-nucleoside therapy containing AZT, 3TC and abacavir with no other HIV drugs. Side effects due to AZT were thought likely to be the cause, but patients on d4T, which has a worse side effect profile, fared averagely well. The reason for abacavir’s worse showing may be because it lowers levels of the hepatitis drug ribavirin in the cell.

Continued interferon doesn’t help
Continuing interferon treatment in people who fail to show signs of response by 12 weeks doesn’t slow down the arte of liver damage, a study has found. The US study looked at 330 people with hepatitis C and HIV who were enrolled to receive pegylated interferon and high-dose ribavirin. There was a relatively high response rate of 56%, however 86 of the nearly 200 patients who completed therapy hadn’t responded by 12 weeks. These were then divided into two groups who either received no further treatment or were put on a maintenance dose of pegylated interferon without ribavirin for 72 weeks. The hope had been that the interferon would at least slow further liver damage but in the event the patients on interferon actually had slightly faster rates of development of liver damage, though not liver-related illness. ““It’s clear that we don’t fully understand the effects of interferon,” said investigator Kenneth Sherman.. “What seemed obvious—that long-term pegylated interferon would be helpful—may not be the case, which is why we do these studies.”

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