Response to different conventional interferons in treatment of chronic hepatitis C.

Sustained virological response to interferon therapy is a great challenge for patients of chronic hepatitis c. over 20 brands of interferons are available in the local market with each claiming over 80% response and a wide variation in the cost thus creating confusion for treating physicians as to which drug should be selected. chronic hepatitis c patients attending outpatients department of pakistan medical research centre jpmc from january 1998-december 2010 were evaluated. complete blood count,liver function tests,serum proteins,hcv-rna were done in all cases before starting therapy. side effects were also noted. total of 851 cases received interferon 3 miu three times a week for 6 months. there were 638 (75%) males and 213 (25%) females,mean age was 36.1 +/- 10.4 years. all were hcv-rna positive prior to treatment,at the end of 6 months 666 (78.3%) became negative while 185 (21.7%) were non-responders with positive hcv rna. end of treatment response (etr) showed 84.7% with bioferon (argentina),83.8% hebron (cuba),82.2% inf (argentina),82.1% ceron (china),81% viteron (korea),80.7% leveron (argentina),81.5% hepaferon,79.1% anferon (china),77.4% intron (belgium),75% green alpha (korea),74% roferon (switzerland),67.3% uniferon (lithuania),and 68.4% with others. post-treatment 211 cases were lost to follow-up. in remaining 358/640 (55.9%) negative for hcv-rna,at six months follow up,whereas 98 (15.3%) relapsed. sustained virological response (svr) ceron 68.2%,hebron 66.3%,bioferon 65.2%,leveron 60.5%,intron 60.3%,viteron 57%,anferon 53.3%,green alpha,roferon,hepaferon,and others 50%,inf 48.5% and uniferon 41.9%. average cost of these interferons was rs. 6,000/month,except hepaferon 5,000/month,roferon 10,600/month. etr ranged from 74-84.7% and svr 41.9% to 68.2% and > 60% svr was observed with ceron,hebron,bioferon,leveron,intron and were cost effective.