Interferon doesn't help HCV in long run

DALLAS, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Interferon as a long-term drug strategy to slow the progression of liver disease linked to the hepatitis C virus is ineffective, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and colleagues from nine other institutions said the results of the 3 1/2-year trial found no difference in the rate of progression of liver disease among patients who received interferon and those who did not.

"It wasn't that there was an insignificant difference; there was absolutely no difference whatsoever in the progression to cirrhosis and other disease complications," Dr. William M. Lee, the principal investigator, said in summarizing the study. "It is a negative study but an important one."

The HALT-C (Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-Term Treatment Against Cirrhosis) Trial, was conducted from August 2000 and June 2007, involving 1,050 people with hepatitis C who did not respond to initial antiviral treatment. They were assigned randomly to either a group that received treatment with the drug peginterferon or to a group that did not.

The trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that although the level of hepatitis C virus in blood and certain liver enzymes decreased significantly with treatment, there was no significant difference in ultimate clinical outcome.