Journal of Hepatology
Volume 52, Issue 1 , Pages 133-135 , January 2010

PEG IFN alfa-2a vs. alfa-2b: And the winner is …?

  • Antonio Craxì

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress: Gastroenterologia & Epatologia, Clinica Medica, Universite di Palermo, Piazza delle Cliniche 2, 90127 Palermo, Italy. Tel.: +39 091 655 3248; fax: +39 091 655 2156.
    • Competing interests: The author has been involved as consultant in advisory boards and has received research and travel grants from Roche and from Schering Plough. There are no other competing interests to declare.

References 

  1. McHutchison JG, Lawitz EJ, Shiffman ML, Muir AJ, Galler GW, McCone J, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2b or alfa-2a with ribavirin for treatment of hepatitis C infection. N Engl J Med. 2009;361:580–593
  2. Manns MP, McHutchison JG, Gordon SC, Rustgi VK, Shiffman M, Reindollar R, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin compared with interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin for initial treatment of chronic hepatitis C: a randomised trial. Lancet. 2001;358:958–965
  3. Jacobson IM, Brown RS, Freilich B, Afdhal N, Kwo PY, Santoro J, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2b and weight-based or flat-dose ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C patients: a randomized trial. Hepatology. 2007;46:971–981
  4. Bruno S, Cammà C, Di Marco V, Rumi M, Vinci M, Camozzi M, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin for naïve patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C: a randomized controlled trial. J Hepatol. 2004;41:474–481
  5. Fried MW, Shiffman ML, Reddy KR, Smith C, Marinos G, Gonçales FL, et al. Peginterferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C virus infection. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:975–982
  6. Hadziyannis SJ, Sette H, Morgan TR, Balan V, Diago M, Marcellin P, et al. Peginterferon-alpha2a and ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C: a randomized study of treatment duration and ribavirin dose. Ann Intern Med. 2004;140:346–355
  7. Ascione A, De Luca M, Tartaglione MT, Lampasi F, Di Costanzo GG, Lanza AG, et al. Peginterferon Alpha-2a plus ribavirin is more effective than peginterferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin for treating chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Gastroenterology. 2009 Oct 20. PubMed PMID: 19852964. [Epub ahead of print].
  8. Rumi M, Aghemo A, Prati GM, D’Ambrosio R, Donato MF, Soffredini R, et al. Randomized study of peginterferon-alpha2a plus ribavirin versus peginterferon-alpha2b plus ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C. Gastroenterology. 2009 Sep 17. PubMed PMID: 19766645. [Epub ahead of print].
  9. Craxì A, Piccinino F, Alberti A, Rizzetto M, Iannacone C, Sarracino M. Predictors of SVR in naïve HCV G1 patients in real lifepractice: the PROBE. In: 43rd annual meeting of the European association for the study of the liver (EASL), 23–27 April 2008, Milan, Italy. J Hepatol 2008;48(Suppl. 2):S291.
  10. Witthoeft T, Hueppe D, John C, Goelz J, Meyer U, Heyne R, Efficacy and safety of peginterferon alfa-2a or -2b plusribavirin in the routine daily treatment of chronic hepatitis C patients in Germany: the practice study. In: 43rd annual meeting of the European association for the study of the liver (EASL), 23–27 April 2008, Milan, Italy. J Hepatol 2008;48(Suppl. 2):S315.
  11. Backus LI, Boothroyd DB, Phillips BR, Mole LA. Predictors of response of US veterans to treatment for the hepatitis C virus. Hepatology. 2007;46:37–47
  12. Fried MW, Jensen DM, Rodriguez-Torres M, Nyberg LM, Di Bisceglie AM, Morgan TR, et al. Improved outcomes in patients with hepatitis C with difficult-to-treat characteristics: randomized study of higher doses of peginterferon alpha-2a and ribavirin. Hepatology. 2008;48:1033–1043

PII: S0168-8278(09)00666-7

doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2009.10.020

Journal of Hepatology
Volume 52, Issue 1 , Pages 133-135 , January 2010

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