Clinical Trial To Test New Therapy For Patients With Hepatitis C
|September 6, 2000
Hershey, Pa--Researchers at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center are about to begin a clinical trial that will test a new therapy for patients with Hepatitis C. The patients enrolled in the study must have failed previous treatment regimens.

"The standard treatment for hepatitis C is three injections per week with Interferon and, by mouth, the drug Ribavirin. This new investigational drug is essentially a long-lasting form of Interferon that will require only one injection per week," explains principal investigator Thomas J. McGarrity, M.D., professor of medicine at Penn State's College of Medicine and a gastroenterologist at The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. "We believe this new form of Interferon stays in the blood longer at a high steady level which will be more effective."

About 200 patients in all will be enrolled. Including Hershey, there are a total of seven sites testing the drug. All the sites are in Pennsylvania including sites in Lancaster and York.

"We think the virus might actually have a chance to recover with several shots per week. With this long-lasting therapy, there will be fewer peaks and valleys and hopefully no time for the virus to recover. The treatment will last for one year," says McGarrity. He adds that patients will then undergo a blood test six months following completion of the treatment. If they are free of virus at that time, McGarrity says it is very unlikely the virus would return at all.

It is estimated that 4 million people in the United States may have hepatitis C. Many are baby boomers who experimented with drug use in the 60s. "We know that intravenous drug use and having a blood transfusion prior to 1990 are two of the main causes of the disease. People who were infected 20 or 30 years ago are the patients we are seeing today," said McGarrity. "The disease is very hard to detect because often there are no symptoms for decades."

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, the organ that eliminates toxins and is important in metabolism. Hepatitis C is now the number one reason people need a liver transplant. The disease can also cause liver cancer. Many in the healthcare field have termed the situation an epidemic because hepatitis C is expected to kill more Americans in the next 20 or 30 years than AIDS.

This is a phase III clinical trial meaning extensive testing on the drug has already begun. It is anticipated that widespread access to the drug in the United States could be available within a few years.

Anyone interested in participating in the study should call Dr. McGarrity at 717-531-6506. This new drug is manufactured by Schering-Plough Corp. of Kenilworth, New Jersey.