Early HCV Response More Likely With Peg-Interferon Alpha-2a Than -2b

Reuters Health Information

May 03, 2013

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 03 - Patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are more likely to have an early response to pegylated interferon alpha-2a than alpha-2b, a new meta-analysis has found.

"The Cochrane meta-analysis about sustained virological response and our meta-analysis taking into account rapid virological response and early virological response (show that) the efficacy of peg-a-2a is superior to peg-a-2b and thus it is the first choice in the management of hepatitis C," Dr. Manuel Romero-Gomez from Valme University Hospital in Seville, Spain, told Reuters Health by email.

Dr. Romero-Gomez and colleagues pooled data from eight randomized trials that compared peginterferon alpha-2a and alpha-2b in 4,566 patients.

A complete early virological response (EVR) was achieved by 53.3% of patients treated with peginterferon alpha-2a and 43.8% of those treated with alpha-2b (p=0.0028), the authors reported April 14 online in Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

Results were similar in a sub-analysis of patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4, but the difference fell short of statistical significance.

Crude rates of rapid virological response (RVR) were higher for peginterferon alpha-2a than alpha 2-b (25.0% vs 16.8%; p=0.0056), and results were also significantly better for alpha-2a in a sub-analysis of patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 and 4 (p=0.0048).

"RVR and EVR are crucial in the management of therapy in hepatitis C because they allow us to make decision about futility rules, saving cost and adverse events," Dr. Romero-Gomez said. "Using peg-a-2a we can treat more patients with double therapy if they reach RVR or add boceprevir/telaprevir in patients without RVR."

"We need more data to define which patients have to be treated with peg-a-2a or peg-a-2b," Dr. Romero-Gomez cautioned. "According to baseline characteristics, pega-a-2a seems to be better in very difficult-to-cure patients (genotype 1 with advanced fibrosis and metabolic derangements), but this point needs to be confirmed in further studies."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/11lmZED

Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2013.

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