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Currently, patients who are infected with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) receive 48 weeks of peginterferon plus ribavirin therapy, which results in sustained virologic responses (SVRs) in about 45%. Therapy is expensive and is associated with substantial side effects. Using a patient’s initial time to virologic response as an indicator for individualizing therapy duration could permit shorter, but effective, exposures. In this study, researchers in Italy evaluated the efficacy of individualized peginterferon plus ribavirin therapy in 696 genotype 1 HCV-positive patients.
In a 1:2 ratio, HCV-positive patients with well-compensated disease were randomized to receive peginterferon plus weight-based ribavirin (standard doses) for 48 weeks or…