KTVT CBS 11 Health Alert
Dr. Lewis Pincus
Taping Script, Wed. May 30, 2001

Hepatitis C

Anchor: Hepatitis C, a potentially fatal viral infection of the liver, is now being mentioned in the same sentence with the word “cure”. Here with today’s CBS Health Alert is our medical expert Dr. Lewis Pincus.

Doctor: Larry is 40 years old. He has been brought to see me because a routine blood test, done prior to an attempt to give blood, showed abnormal liver function. Larry’s medical history reveals that in 1980 he was in a serious motorcycle accident and was given several units of blood by transfusion. A simple blood test confirms that Larry’s liver function abnormality is due to chronic infection with the Hepatitis C virus.

Until recently, treatment of Hepatitis C has not been good, relying on single drug treatment with an anti-viral compound known as interferon-alpha. The treatment is difficult, requiring daily injections , and the side effects of depression, extreme fatigue, and flu-like symptoms are very common Now studies with a newer form of interferon used in combination with a second drug, ribavirin, have specialists talking about curing large numbers of these patients.

The new “pegylated” versions of interferons are linked to a chemical called polyethylene glycol which makes the drug stay in the body much longer. Instead of the frequent injections needed for standard interferon, the new interferons require only one injection per week.

Two pharmaceutical companies, Schering and Roche, are manufacturing this new type of long acting interferon. Both versions are much more active against Hepatitis C than classical interferon, and when used in combination with ribavirin, show even better results. In a recently released study, patients treated with Pegasys plus ribavirin had a 56% response to therapy. This means that 24 weeks after stopping a 48 week treatment, these patients had no detectable virus, and this is considered a cure.

Several other points are worth mentioning:

Doctors observed that if there was going to be response to the new combination, this would be evident within 12 weeks of starting therapy. Since not everyone will respond to this newer therapy, a change to different medications can be made early.

Next, the new combination has been reported to work in many patients who failed on conventional daily dose interferon / ribavirin, offering hope to patients who might have considered themselves a treatment failure.

For CBS 11 Health Alert, this is Dr. Lew Pincus.
 

BACK TO TOP