Study shows weight-based REBETOL dosing in combination with PEG-INTRON significantly im...( Study shows weight-based REBETOL dosi...),Health

WIN-R study provides important insights on improving hepatitis C treatment among African-Americans

(BOSTON, Oct. 29, 2004) Twice as many African-American patients infected with the most difficult-to-treat form of chronic hepatitis C successfully cleared the virus when given a weight-based dose of REBETOL (ribavirin, USP) rather than a flat dose, in combination with PEG-INTRON (peginterferon alfa-2b), according to data presented at a Presidential Plenary session at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) on Monday, November 1, at noon. The new findings, involving nearly 400 African-American patients from the large multicenter WIN-R study, are significant because African-Americans are known to have generally lower rates of response to hepatitis C therapy, and efforts are underway to improve outcomes for these patients.

"These results show that individualized therapy with weight-based ribavirin offers a significant advantage over a flat dose of ribavirin in the treatment of African-American patients chronically infected with hepatitis C genotype 1, the most difficult form of the virus to treat," said study principal investigator Ira M. Jacobson, M.D., Vincent Astor Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City. "It's also important to note that in this study the overall safety of weight-based ribavirin dosing was similar to that of the flat 800 mg dose," he said.

The WIN-R (Weight-Based Dosing of PEG-INTRON and REBETOL ) study is the largest prospective clinical study in hepatitis C undertaken to date, involvi
'"/>


29-Oct-2004