August 6 , 2004

Drug treatment promising for HIV and hepatitis C

Since the introduction of highly active combination drug therapy for HIV, liver failure from hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has become a leading cause of death among those infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Now a study led by an MGH researcher has found that the newest treatment for patients infected with HCV alone also helps those with both viruses by significantly improving the clearance of HCV from the bloodstream.

"Hepatitis C has become the new opportunistic infection among HIV-infected patients," says lead author Raymond Chung, MD, director of the Center for Liver Disorders in the MGH Gastrointestinal Unit. "The problem is immense and growing."

The standard treatment for those infected with HCV only — interferon and ribavirin — is not very effective for patients also infected with HIV. A new FDA-approved treatment for HCV-only infection uses a chemically modified form of interferon called peginterferon, and the current study was designed to investigate whether the new approach could safely improve treatment success for those infected with both viruses.

At the end of the 48-week study period, about 40 percent of those receiving peginterferon had cleared HCV from their bloodstream, compared with only 12 percent of the interferon group. Follow-up blood tests were taken 24 weeks after the study period, and again those in the peginterferon group fared significantly better. No participants had progression of HIV symptoms or adverse interactions with their anti-HIV drugs.

"This really is a foot in the door, a promise that we will be able to help many of these patients without adversely affecting control of their HIV disease," Chung says.

Gregory Robbins, MD, and Atul Bhan, MD, were MGH co-authors of the report, which appeared in the July 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.