CANADA APPROVES INTERFERON ALFA

The sale of two new products to treat patients infected with the hepatitis B virus has been approved in Canada. Recombinant interferon alfa, which will be sold by both Roche Canada and Schering Canada Inc, as Roferon-A and Intron-A respectively, represents the country's first approved treatment for the potentially fatal disease.

However, according to Victor Feinman, director of the liver study unit at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, and one of the investigators who was involved in testing the product, it will be suitable for only a relatively small number of infected patients, those with the chronic form of viral hepatitis B.

About 3,500 new cases of hepatitis B were reported in Canada last year, and while most people recover completely, about 10% to 20% subsequently develop chronic hepatitis which can lead to fatal cirrhosis of the liver or even liver cancer. Clinical studies have demonstrated that interferon alfa impairs spread of the virus, enhances natural immunity and reduces or eliminates inflammation of the liver, the critical problem associated with the viral infection.