Who Should Be Treated with PEG-Interferon?
It is clear that PEG-interferon in combination with ribavirin is currently the standard of care for treatment-naive hepatitis C patients; no other therapy can achieve the rates of sustained viral response seen with this combination. Some patients who were prior non-responders to therapy may benefit from retreatment with PEG-interferon plus ribavirin. Those patients previously non-responding to interferon monotherapy are ideal candidates for retreatment with combination PEG-interferon plus ribavirin — a significant percentage will achieve a sustained response. A more difficult group of patients are those who did not achieve a sustained response to combination interferon alfa-2b and ribavirin therapy (Rebetron). Clinical trials are currently in progress to assess response in this group of patients. While we have no solid clinical data, some educated predictions can be made in terms of the likelihood of response. Those patients who lost virus while on Rebetron but then relapsed are the o
