Twice as many African-American patients infected with the most difficult-to-treat form of chronic hepatitis C successfully cleared the virus when given a weight-based dose of ribavirin rather than a flat dose, in combination with peginterferon alfa-2b, according to investigators at the WSU School of Medicine, which participated in the multicenter study, called WIN-R.

The new findings were recently presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. The results are significant because African-Americans are known to have generally lower rates of response to hepatitis C therapy, and efforts are underway to improve outcomes for these patients.

Milton Mutchnick, M.D., WSU professor of internal medicine, and Firdous Siddiqui, M.D., WSU assistant professor of internal medicine, were lead investigators for the WSU branch of the WIN-R (Weight-Based Dosing of Peg-Intron and Rebetol) study. It is the largest prospective clinical study in hepatitis C undertaken to date, involving approximately 4,900 patients from about 250 centers throughout the United States .

The community-based study is evaluating the safety and efficacy of weight-based Peg-Intron, or peginterferon alfa-2b, in combination with fixed or weight-based Rebetol, or ribavirin, in a diverse patient population, including the largest number of African-American patients (approximately 400) in any study to date.

The study is an investigator-initiated study supported by Schering-Plough and monitored by Schering-Plough Research Institute as part of a post-marketing commitment to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.