View clinical trials related to Chronic Hepatitis C.
Filter by:To evaluate the safety and tolerability of two different doses of Consensus Interferon-Alpha and Interferon Gamma-1b with or without ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C who are non-responders to PEG-IFN-a 2a or PEG-IFN-a 2b plus ribavirin.
The objective of the study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PEG-Intron versus no treatment for the prevention of fibrosis progression in adult participants with moderate to severe liver fibrosis secondary to chronic hepatitis C, who failed PEG-Intron plus Rebetol treatment in protocol P02370 (NCT00039871).
The objective of the study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PEG-Intron vs. no treatment for the prevention of disease progression in adult subjects with compensated cirrhosis secondary to chronic hepatitis C, who failed to respond to therapy with an a interferon plus ribavirin.
This study will test whether gamma interferon is effective in treating chronic hepatitis C infection-a long-lasting viral infection affecting the liver. One-third of patients with hepatitis C infection develop cirrhosis of the liver, which can lead to liver failure or liver cancer. The current treatment for hepatitis C infection is pegylated alpha interferon (peginterferon) plus ribavirin; however, this treatment is successful in only about half of patients. Gamma interferon works similarly to alpha interferon, but through different pathways, and therefore might be helpful in patients who do not respond to alpha interferon. Patients 18 years of age and older with chronic hepatitis C infection, genotype 1, who did not respond to alpha interferon and ribavirin therapy may be eligible for this study. (Genotype 1 is a strain of hepatitis C virus that has a lower treatment success rate.) Potential participants will be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center for 2 to 3 days for a medical evaluation to determine eligibility for the study and, if enrolled, to begin gamma interferon therapy. Screening will include a medical history and physical examination, blood and urine tests, and possibly chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasound, and psychiatric evaluation. Participants will receive injections of gamma interferon under the skin 3 times a week for 4 weeks (a total of 12 injections). They will be randomly assigned to receive either 100 or 200 micrograms of drug per injection. Blood will be drawn just before the first injection and then 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours later to monitor changes in the levels of hepatitis C virus and immune responses to treatment. The amount and rapidity of decrease in virus will be compared with what occurs with alpha interferon treatment to define the relative effectiveness of gamma interferon. (Patients may leave the hospital at any time after the first day, but must return in time for the final blood test.) Patients will be seen in the clinic each week during treatment to report symptoms and drug side effects and to have blood drawn for routine tests and viral levels. After the 4-week treatment is completed, patients will return for follow-up visits at weeks 6 and 8 for routine blood tests.
This study will examine the effectiveness of pegylated interferon, or peginterferon (a long-acting form of alpha interferon) plus ribavirin in treating hepatitis C (genotype 1) infection with and without kidney disease.
The HALT-C Trial is a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases sponsored, randomized clinical trial of long-term use of Peginterferon alfa-2a (pegylated interferon) in patients who failed to respond to prior interferon treatment. All patients who enter the trial will be treated for 6 months with Peginterferon alfa-2a and Ribavirin. Patients who respond to this 6 month treatment will continue to be treated for an additional 6 months. Patients who do not respond to this treatment will be eligible for the long-term maintenance phase of this study where patients will be randomly selected to be treated with Peginterferon alfa-2a or to discontinue treatment for 3.5 years. Patients in both arms of this study will be followed closely with quarterly study visits. The combination of peginterferon plus ribavirin has recently been approved by the FDA for treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Patients who remain HCV-RNA positive after being treated for at least 6 months with peginterferon and ribavirin outside of this study may be eligible to directly enter the randomized portion of the HALT-C Trial. The HALT-C study is designed to determine if continuing interferon long-term over several years will suppress Hepatitis C virus, prevent progression to cirrhosis, prevent liver cancer and reduce the need for liver transplantation.
Chronic hepatitis C is a disease of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus. The disease can be serious and even fatal. Approximately 25% of patients with chronic hepatitis C will develop cirrhosis and some of these patients will develop cancer of the liver or liver failure. Presently the disease is treated with a combination of alpha interferon or peginterferon (antiviral and immune stimulating drugs) and ribavirin (an antiviral drug). Alpha interferon is given by injection three times a week whereas peginterferon is given by injection only once a week. Ribavirin is given as a tablet by mouth twice a day. The combination therapy is given for 6 to months. About half of the patients given these medications will receive a lasting benefit and many patients do not respond well to the combination therapy. This study will select up to 50 patients will chronic hepatitis C who have not responded to combination therapy or who could not stand the side effects associated with interferon or peginterferon therapy. These subjects will be evaluated and undergo liver biopsy to determine their present liver condition. If selected as subjects they will be started on single drug therapy with ribavirin. The drug will be given orally twice a day at a dose based on the patient's body weight. The patients will be followed on an out-patient basis. They will we asked to return for regular check-ups and blood tests every 2 to 8 weeks for the duration of the study. After 6 months, the medication will be stopped or adjusted based on the results of the subject's blood tests (liver enzymes). A response is considered if a decrease of 50% or more of the initial liver enzyme (alanine aminotransferase, ALT) is noted. A complete response will be considered if liver enzymes return to normal levels. Therapy will be discontinued after 6 months if patients do not respond. However, patients that respond to the single drug therapy will continue to receive the medication at a decreased dose. The patients will remain on an appropriate dose for up to 8 years with repeat liver biopsies at 2, 4 and 8 years to assess progress. This study will determine if long-term therapy with ribavirin is safe and effective.
Hepatitis C is a major cause of liver disease in the United States and leads to cirrhosis of the liver in approximately one-third of patients some of whom will ultimately suffer from liver failure or liver cancer. At present, the recommended therapy of hepatitis C is the combination of alpha interferon and ribavirin given for 6 to 12 months. Ribavirin is a antiviral drug that is given by mouth. Interferon is both an antiviral and an immune medication which must be given by injections (three times a week) and has many difficult side effects. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the combination of ribavirin and interferon improve the liver disease of hepatitis C and whether improvements can be maintained by continuing ribavirin therapy long-term. This study will take 100 to 120 patients suffering from hepatitis C and place them under combination drug therapy with alpha interferon and ribavirin. The course of drug therapy is scheduled to last 6 to 12 months. Patients will be selected after appropriate screening for hepatitis C virus and elevated liver enzymes are conducted and liver biopsy shows chronic hepatitis with some degree of injury and scarring. During the first 6 months of the study, subjects will be asked to return to the outpatient clinic for routine check-ups and blood tests every 2 to 4 weeks. Blood tests will include tests for hepatitis C virus. If the virus test becomes negative on treatment, the therapy will be considered successful and will be continued for a full 6 or 12 months (depending upon the strain of virus). If the virus test does not become negative during the first six months of treatment, subjects will be considered "non-responders" and will stop taking interferon but will continue on ribavirin alone or an identically appearing placebo tablet. These non-responsive subjects will continue this therapy for an additional 12 months. (A year-and-a-half total). Upon completion of the drug therapies, subjects will be requested to submit blood samples and undergo a liver biopsy to determine if the therapy was successful. Test results that reveal a loss of hepatitis C antibodies or normal levels of liver enzymes will be deemed successful. Patients that have successful laboratory test results will be considered for continuation of ribavirin therapy. Patients that received placebo for a year will be eligible to receive ribavirin long-term at the end of the study.