Pegylated Alpha Interferons: An Unresolved Clash of the Titans?

Physicians treating chronic hepatitis c (chc) have witnessed a fascinating evolution of therapies, from the initial experimental alpha interferon (ifn- α) in non-a/non-b hepatitis, to the new stat-c era of specific targeted antivirals. over these past 25 years, two events stand out as major breakthroughs in therapy for chc: the addition of the antiviral agent ribavirin (rbv), which allowed doubling of the sustained virologic response (svr) from ~20 to ~40%; and the alpha peginterferon (peg-ifn-α) which further improved the rate of svr to 55% by lengthening the half-life of ifn-α (1). nonetheless, ifn-α (whether pegylated or not) remains until today a constant in the armamentarium against chc, and it may not disappear even in the stat-c era.