Roche responds to announcement of 'IDEAL' hepatitis C tri...(ients maintain a higher ribavirin ...),Health

dose. However, physicians could only prescribe EPO after the first dose

ribavirin reduction in the "IDEAL" trial. Since patients in the Peg-

Intron arms generally had smaller ribavirin dose reductions, this

introduces another potential bias and means those Peg-Intron patients

were potentially able to maintain a higher dose of ribavirin compared

to PEGASYS patients

About PEGASYS

PEGASYS was launched by Roche in 2002 and quickly became the leading treatment for patients with hepatitis C. It is indicated in combination with COPEGUS (ribavirin) for the treatment of adults with chronic hepatitis C who have compensated liver disease and have not previously been treated with interferon alpha. Efficacy has been demonstrated in patients with compensated liver disease and histological evidence of cirrhosis (Child-Pugh class A) and patients with HIV disease that are clinically stable (e.g., antiretroviral therapy not required or receiving stable antiretroviral therapy). In addition, PEGASYS in combination with COPEGUS is the first and only FDA- approved regimen for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in patients coinfected with hepatitis C and HIV. PEGASYS is the only pegylated interferon indicated for the treatment of adult patients with chronic hepatitis B (HBeAg positive and HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B who have compensated liver disease and evidence of viral replication and liver inflammation).

PEGASYS is dosed at 180mcg as a subcutaneous injection taken once a week. COPEGUS is available as a 200mg tablet, and is administered orally two times a day as a split dose. Roche has backed PEGASYS with the most extensive clinical research program ever undertaken in hepatitis C, with major studies initiated to advance treatment for hepatitis C patients with unmet needs, including patients co-infected with HIV and HCV, African Americans, patients with cirrhosis, and pa
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