Telaprevir (LY 570310; LY-570310; LY570310; MP 424; MP-424; VX 950; VX-950) is an orally administered peptidomimetic inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease NS3/4A. It is being developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and its licensees for the treatment of HCV infections and has recently been submitted to the US FDA for approval. As the first ever HCV protease inhibitor in phase III develo...

In the TMC435-C101 study, 6 patients infected with hepatitis C virus genotype 1 were treated with the protease inhibitor TMC435 (200 mg once daily) as monotherapy for 5 days. Approximately 1.5 years later, 5 of these patients were re-treated with TMC435 (200 mg once daily) plus pegylated interferon alfa-2a and ribavirin (PegIFNα-2a and RBV) for 4 weeks, followed by PegIFNα-2a and RBV until week...

BACKGROUND AND AIM In this study, we compared the efficacy of triple therapy (interferon alfa, ribavirin, and amantadine) with standard therapy (interferon alfa and ribavirin) in treatment naïve patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV). METHODS In this prospective, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled, multicentre study, 85 patients (amantadine group) received a three drug regime...

Interferons are used for treatment of chronic hepatitis B. They can induce or exacerbate some skin disorders, such as lichen planus. In this study, as we know, we presented the first case developing lichen planus while receiving interferon treatment due to delta hepatitis. A 31-year-old male patient presented to our outpatient clinic with HBsAg positivity. With his analyses, HBV DNA was negativ...

Numerous direct-acting drugs to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are in development, offering the potential for substantial improvement over current interferon alfa-based therapy and the possibility of effective interferon alfa-sparing regimens in achieving cure of HCV infection. Drugs furthest along in clinical development include HCV nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) protease inhibitors (e...

ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C: a randomized study of treatment duration and ribavirin dose. Ann Intern Med 2004;140:346–55. 19 Davis GL, Wong JB, McHutchison JG, Manns MP et al. Early virologic response to treatment with peginterferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 2003;38:645–52. 20 Dalgard O, Bjoro K, Hellum KB, Myrvang B et al. ...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide (Gao et al., 2012). Pegylated interferon alfa (PEG-IFN), which has an immunomodulatory and antiviral effects, is one of the approved agents for treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) (Hoofnagle et al., 2007). The long-term therapeutic effect of PEG-IFN is durable a...

A 55-year-old Egyptian woman with chronic hepatitis C undergoing treatment with pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) alfa-2a plus ribavirin was referred to our hospital on November 2010 with prolonged easy fatigability and an attack of syncope; she had no prior history of autoimmune disorders or allergy. Laboratory investigations documented the presence of Peg-IFN induced autoimmune haemolytic anaemi...

Cardiac arrhythmias and syncope are rare consequence of therapy with pegylated interferon. We report a 55-year-old Egyptian woman who developed palpitation and syncopal attacks twice within 3 months after starting therapy with pegylated interferon alpha2b and ribavirin for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C virus-RNA was undetectable after 12 week. The electrocardiogram hol...