Finding the Right Combination to Fight Hepatitis C

Just half of the millions of Americans infected with hepatitis C respond to treatment, while others who are infected live with the constant threat that their health could suddenly, and fatally, deteriorate. But a new drug could help improve these odds.

When used with the antiviral drug interferon, the drug Zadaxin could help thousands of patients better fight HCV. "This medication looks promising for people who don't respond to other drugs," said Dr. Sammy Saab, liver specialist at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. "It may also be used as part of a combination drug cocktail for all hepatitis C sufferers, since it seems to work by a different mechanism of action than other medications," added Saab.

Current HCV treatment -- a combination of interferon and Ribarvirin -- helps only half of those with active infections and less than a third who are infected with the more prevalent and more dangerous form of hepatitis C known as genotype 1.

Zadaxin is a synthetic version of thymosin alpha 1, a naturally occurring protein that stimulates the production of certain immune system cells. The drug, which has no apparent side effects, is approved for sale in 30 countries as an antiviral drug to treat hepatitis B but only in a few countries to fight hepatitis C.

However, results of a U.S. study using Zadaxin to treat HCV were encouraging. The test involved 31 patients with high levels of genotype 1 who had not responded to standard therapy. Zadaxin, used in combination with interferon, greatly reduced levels of HCV in up to 36 percent of the patients.

The findings were particularly significant because patients who do not respond to the initial round of treatment rarely benefit from subsequent therapy. "We purposely chose the most difficult of the most-difficult-to-treat patients," said researcher Di Bisceglie. Zadaxin is in the final phase of U.S. trials.

Around 4 million Americans are infected with HCV, and about 2.7 million of those have an active infection in which the liver is inflamed. Hepatitis C, which kills 10,000 people a year, is the leading cause for liver transplants in the United States.

Back to other news for September 10, 2003