To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Opioid Maintenance Therapy Not Related to Treatment Failure for Hepatitis C: Presented at AASLD URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/216BC2.htm Doctor's Guide November 5, 2007
By Maria Bishop BOSTON, MA -- November 5, 2007 -- The efficacy of pegylated interferon alfa-2b (Pegintron) is the same in those patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who are receiving opioid therapy as it is for those who are not, researchers reported here at the 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD). Treatment of chronic HCV patients undergoing opioid maintenance therapy in daily clinical practice to overcome intravenous drug use is therefore feasible, noted lead author Stefan Mauss, MD, PhD, Co-founder, Center for HIV and Hepatogastroenterology, Dusseldorf, Germany. In a multicentre German study, 4,130 patients were treated with at least one dose of weight-based PEG-IFN alfa-2b (1.5 ug/kg body weight) and weight-based ribavirin. Patients with missing data at follow-up were classified as "treatment failures." Also, Dr. Mauss and colleagues decided to include in their presentation only those patients who started treatment at least 48 weeks (for genotype 2 or 3) or 72 weeks (genotypes 1, 4, 5, or 6) before the start of this analysis (n = 2,016). Of the 2,016 patients analysed, 255 were receiving opioid maintenance therapy (methadone or buprenorphine) to help them overcome intravenous illicit drug use. The sustained virological response rate (SVR) was 64% in this patient group, while the SVR was 59% in the 1,761 patients not receiving opioid therapy (P =.133). SVR occurred more frequently in genotype 2 or 3 patients than in genotype 1 patients. Patients on opioid maintenance therapy were younger than the other cohort (35.0 ± 9 years vs 42.2 ± 12 years, P <.001). Dr. Mauss noted that the results of this trial, which was large, have corroborated the results of smaller trials -- that success rates in this population are not inferior to results in HCV patients who are not taking opioid maintenance drugs. This trial was sponsored by Essex Pharma. [Presentation title: Opioid Maintenance Therapy Is Not Associated With Treatment Failure to Hepatitis C Therapy in a Large German Multicenter Cohort. Abstract 253] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.