Do you think that the addition of pegylated interferon will prevent drug resistance?
Yes, I think pegylated interferon will have to be given with the new drugs but resistance may still occur with long enough therapy, likely with all of the direct anti-virals as is true in HIV. What are your thoughts about Albuferon? I’m not sure that a once every two week injection would make a whole lot of difference to patients. You may also run into adherence problems. But if it turns out that it would be effective in a once-a-month dose, then you could dose it in a doctor’s office and that would be important because you could bring in a patient to the office for the injection and lab work. Another important issue would be quality of life. If Albuferon can show an improvement in quality of life then it would be an improvement over pegylated interferon. What about the new therapies for the populations who do not respond as well to current medications? Currently African Americans have a dismal response to current therapies, and we have to do better. Hopefully the addition of a direct
