UK NICE final draft guidance on treatment for chronic hepatitis C

The UK drugs watchdog the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) this morning (October 11) confirmed its earlier draft guidance recommending peginterferon alfa in combination with ribavirin as an option for treating chronic hepatitis C in children and young people.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that infects the liver. Children and young people get the disease primarily from their mothers at birth. If the virus is not cleared from the body after an acute infection (defined as the first 6 months following initial infection) the condition can progress to chronic hepatitis C (long term infection, lasting more than six months). Although hepatitis C rarely causes serious liver damage in children, if left untreated chronic hepatitis C infection increases the risk of scarring of the liver (fibrosis and cirrhosis), liver failure and liver cancer in the future.

Pegasys and Viraferon plus ribavirin only currently licensed drugs for this patient population