Adding Boceprevir Improves Virologic Response in Chronic HCV-1
Major Finding: Adding boceprevir to standard peginterferon-ribavirin therapy markedly increased the rate of sustained virologic response by 70% in nonblack patients, by 50% in black patients, and from 21% to 66% in hard-to-treat patients who failed to respond to, or relapsed after, an initial course of treatment.
Data Source: Two phase III randomized controlled clinical trials comparing standard peginterferon-ribavirin therapy plus boceprevir to standard therapy alone in 1,500 patients with chronic HCV type 1 treated for 44 weeks.
Disclosures: Both of these studies were funded by Schering-Plough (now part of Merck). Both groups of investigators reported ties to numerous industry sources, including Schering-Plough/Merck.
FROM THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
In both of these clinical trials, patients who showed undetectable levels of HCV RNA at week 8 also showed a high rate of sustained virologic response, regardless of which treatment they received. This confirms that a strong early response to treatment is predictive of a sustained virologic response, both groups of researchers said.
Both of these studies were funded by Schering-Plough (now part of Merck). Both groups of investigators reported ties to numerous industry sources, including Shering-Plough/Merck.
