Roche has announced final results from the REPEAT study which demonstrate that treatment with once-weekly Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) and daily Copegus (ribavirin) can achieve viral clearance in a number of patients who did not respond to initial treatment with Peg-Intron, another drug commonly used to treat hepatitis C.

This outcome gives hepatitis C patients the opportunity to tackle their disease a second time after initial treatment failure. Furthermore, the results show that a patient's response to treatment at 12 weeks is a powerful predictor of the eventual outcome: the majority of patients with undetectable virus levels at 12 weeks went on to achieve a sustained virological response (SVR), indicating treatment success. Few patients with detectable virus at 12 weeks achieved SVR. These data were presented in an oral session at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

"One of the greatest areas of need in hepatitis C is to find solutions for patients who have not had treatment success with an initial course of therapy. REPEAT is a landmark study that adds significantly to our knowledge about how to manage these patients, demonstrating that extending treatment with Pegasys is a promising option" said Donald Jensen, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Liver Diseases at the University of Chicago Hospital in Chicago, and lead investigator in REPEAT. "An important finding from REPEAT is confirmation of the reliability of using a patient's response at 12 weeks as a predictor of treatment success, even in patients with cirrhosis. This means that patients who achieve undetectable virus at 12 weeks can continue treatment with a good likelihood of success. It also means that clinicians can confidently discontinue treatment in patients who do not achieve an early response".

Hepatitis C, the most common chronic blood-borne infection, is transmitted primarily through blood or blood products. Hepatitis C chronically infects 180 million people worldwide, which makes it over four times more prevalent than HIV1,2. It is a leading cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure, despite the fact that many patients can be cured.