Interferon-alpha plus ribavirin combination therapy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in interferon non-responders

Background/Aims: Only a small fraction of patients with chronic hepatitis C have a sustained biochemical or virologic response to a standard course of alpha -interferon therapy. Thus, alternative treatments are needed particularly for non-responders. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of alpha -interferon in combination with ribavirin in patients who had not responded to a previous course of alpha -interferon. Methodology: in this prospective open trial, 26 patients who had not responded to a previous course of interferon monotherapy, were treated for 6 months with a combination of alpha -interferon 2b, 5 MU thrice weekly, plus ribavirin 1000 or 1200mg daily. They were followed-up for at least 6 months after therapy. Results: At the end of treatment, 3 patients (12%) had normal aminotransferase levels and two (8%) tested negative for HCV-RNA in serum. After 6 months of follow-up, all patients had HCV viremia and only one (3.8%) was still in biochemical remission. One patient dropped out because of side effects and another was lost during follow-up. Conclusions: alpha -interferon-ribavirin combination is ineffective in treating patients who had had no response to interferon monotherapy.