Amarillo hep C agent cleared for Ph II in Taiwan

Texas, USA-based Amarillo Biosciences says that the Taiwanese Department of Health has approved an application to test its low-dose oral  interferon in a Phase II hepatitis C clinical trial. CytoPharm, the  company's partner in Taiwan, will fund and conduct the stud of 165  people with chronic hepatitis C in that country. The patients will  receive one of two different dosages of oral human interferon alpha or  placebo.

The aim of the trial is to reduce the relapse rate for those patients  who have completed the standard combination therapy, consisting of  high-dose injectable interferon alpha and ribavirin given orally.  Although most subjects respond to the standard therapy, up to 50% of  those with certain viral genotypes relapse after treatment. The trial is  expected to start in the second quarter of 2009 and to be completed in  2010.