Schering-Plough Highlights PEGINTRON(TM) and Boceprevir Data Presentations at European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Annu...( KENILWORTH N.J. April 17 /- Scher...),Health

KENILWORTH, N.J., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE: SGP), a leader in advancing the science and treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, announced today that final results of the IDEAL study as well as from several other clinical studies with PEGINTRON(TM) (peginterferon alfa-2b) and REBETOL(R) (ribavirin, USP) combination therapy will be presented at the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) 43rd annual meeting in Milan, Italy, April 23-27. PEGINTRON combination therapy is a current standard of care in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. A total of 36 data presentations, including nine oral presentations, highlighting Schering-Plough hepatitis medications will be presented at EASL 2008.

The IDEAL (Individualized Dosing Efficacy vs. flat dosing to Assess optimaL pegylated interferon therapy) study is the first large, randomized, clinical study comparing the leading therapies for chronic hepatitis C: PEGINTRON and REBETOL combination therapy vs. Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) and Copegus (ribavirin, USP) combination therapy,(1) as well as a lower dose of PEGINTRON plus REBETOL in an investigational combination regimen. Pegasys and Copegus were dosed in accordance with their approved U.S. labeling in this study of more than 3,000 U.S. genotype 1 patients. Results showed that sustained virologic response (SVR), the primary endpoint of the study, was similar for all three treatment regimens. The study also showed in a secondary endpoint that fewer patients treated with both PEGINTRON regimens relapsed after the end of treatment compared to those receiving Pegasys and Copegus.

Final results will be presented for the EPIC3 study, in which more than 2,000 hepatit
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