Therapeutic effectiveness of biosimilar standard interferon versus pegylated interferon for chronic hepatitis C genotypes 2 or 3

• Published in: The Brazilian journal of infectious diseases Vol. 16; no. 3; pp. 232 - 236
• Main Authors: Vigani, Aline Gonzalez, Gonçales, Eduardo Sellan, Postal Pavan, Maria Helena, Genari, Flavia, Tozzo, Raquel, Kroll Lazarini, Maria Silvia, Fais, Viviane, Feltrin, Adriana, Gonçales, Neiva Sellan, Gonçales, Fernando Lopes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Elsevier Editora Ltda 01-05-2012; Contexto; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Antiviral Agents - administration & dosage; Biological response modifiers; Cohort Studies; Drug therapy; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Genetic aspects; Genotype; Health aspects; Hepacivirus - genetics; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatitis C, Chronic - drug therapy; Humans; Infection; Interferon; Interferon-alpha - administration & dosage; Interferons; Interferons - administration & dosage; Male; Middle Aged; Polyethylene Glycols - administration & dosage; Recombinant Proteins - administration & dosage; Retrospective Studies; Ribavirin - administration & dosage; RNA, Viral - analysis; Treatment Outcome; Viral Load; Young Adult; Brazil; Hepatitis C; Treatment outcome; Interferons
• ISSN: 1413-8670; 1678-4391
• DOI: 10.1016/S1413-8670(12)70316-1

Pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) and standard interferon (IFN) play a significant role in the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Biosimilar standard IFN is widely available in Brazil for the treatment of HCV infection genotypes 2 or 3, but its efficacy compared to Peg-IFN is unknown.
To compare the sustained virological response (SVR) rates following treatment with biosimilar standard IFN plus ribavirin (RBV) versus Peg-IFN plus RBV in patients with HCV genotypes 2 or 3 infection.
A retrospective cohort study was conducted in patients with HCV genotypes 2 or 3 infection treated with biosimilar standard IFN plus RBV or with Peg-IFN plus RBV. SVR rates of the two treatments were compared.
From January 2005 to December 2010, 172 patients with a mean age of 44 +/− 9.3 years were included. There were eight (4.7%) patients with HCV genotype 2 infections. One hundred fourteen (66.3%) were treated with biosimilar standard IFN plus RBV, whist 58 (33.7%) patients were treated with Peg-IFN plus RBV. Between the two groups, there were no significant differences regarding age, gender, glucose level, platelet count, hepatic necroinflammatory grade, and hepatic fibrosis stage. Overall, 59.3% (102/172) patients had SVR. In patients treated with Peg-IFN plus RBV, 79.3% (46/58) had SVR compared to 49.1% (56/114) among those treated with biosimilar standard IFN plus RBV (p=0.0001).
In patients with HCV genotypes 2 or 3 infection, a higher SVR was observed in patients receiving Peg-IFN plus RBV related to patients treated with biosimilar standard IFN plus RBV.