Valeant reveals new hepatitis C drug results

Valeant International, the American-based pharmaceutical company, has announced new results for Infragen, a new antiviral therapy targeted to treat hepatitis C patients.

The company is hopeful that the drug could become an alternative to hepatitis C patients who have not responded to pegylated interferon and ribavirin, an indication for which there is no currently approved drug.

A “challenging” population of patients was selected for the trial, three quarters of which had evidence of advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. Additionally, the patients were “exceptionally heavy” and had not received treatment for an average of 395 days in the case of the nine microgram dosage group, and 492 days for the 15 microgram group.

The study results showed that the early virologic response rates were 46 per cent for the nine microgram group and 54 per cent for the higher dose, while 14 per cent of patients on the lower dosage achieved virus negativity at week 24 of the trial.

This rose to 20 per cent for the 15 microgram dosage group.

Bruce R Bacon, the trial’s lead investigator and the director of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Saint Louis University, described the early results from the trial as “promising”.

“These patients had not previously responded to pegylated interferon and ribavirin, and it is encouraging that companies are developing new treatment options with the potential to help many of these patients achieve a sustained virologic response,” he said.

Despite the fact that an estimated 200 million people worldwide are infected with the hepatitis C virus, it was first identified fully in 1989 and it was not until 1991 that a screening process became available, according to the UK Hepatitis C Trust.

Because of this, many aspects of the virus are unknown or poorly understood, the charity states.