Pegintron plus Rebetol achieves consistent SVR

At the 58th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, held in Boston, Massachusetts, US drug major Schering-Plough presented strong final results from the POWeR program, a large observational study involving nearly 2,000 patients conducted at academic and community clinics in Canada between 2002 and 2006.

In the evaluation, Pegintron (peginterferon alfa-2b) and Rebetol (ribavirin) combination therapy achieved consistent sustained virologic response rates across patient weights and consistently low relapse rates in a "real-life" treatment setting.

S-P noted that HCV is the most common blood-borne infection in America and the most common form of liver disease, affecting nearly 5 million people in the USA and 200 million people worldwide.