GENERAL MEDICINE: Shorter Anti-Viral Treatment for Hepatitis C: Less Effective Than Standard Regimen

Audio Journal of Medicine, August 2nd 2007 Shorter Anti-Viral Treatment for Hepatitis C: Less Effective Than Standard Regimen REFERENCE: N Engl J Med 2007;357:124-34 MITCHELL SHIFFMAN, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond Standard anti-viral therapy for Hepatitis C needs to be used to the full duration according to a publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. Following provocative evidence from previous smaller studies, suggesting that anti viral therapy can be shortened, the ACCELERATE trial (the largest international study with genotypes 2 and 3) was set up to resolve whether shortening the duration of therapy for patients would give the same virologic response rates as with the standard regimen. It found that full-dose, full-duration therapy with interferon and ribavirin needs to be adhered to. Nicola Solomon interviewed Mitchell Shiffman to find out more.