Efficacy and tolerability of pegylated interferon-α_2a plus ribavirin versus pegylated interferon-α_2b plus ribavirin in treatment-naive chronic hepatitis C patients

Objectives: The authors compared the efficacies and tolerabilities of pegylated interferon-α_2a (PEG-IFN-α_2a) + ribavirin and pegylated interferon-α_2b (PEG-IFN- α_2b) + ribavirin for the initial treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Methods: A total of 126 treatment-naive patients (29.4% genotype 1, 70.6% genotype non-1) were treated with PEG-IFN-α_2a 180 μg/week (group A, n = 79) or PEG-IFN-α_2b 1.5 μg/kg/week (group B, n = 47) with ribavirin (800 mg/day for genotype non-1 or 1,000-1,200 mg/day for genotype 1) for 24 (genotype non-1) or 48 weeks (genotype 1). Results: End-of-treatment virologic response, sustained virologic response, and biochemical response were not significantly different in groups A and B (84.8 vs. 89.4%, 70.9 vs. 72.3%, and 70.9 vs. 74.5%, respectively; p > 0.05). In patients with the HCV genotype 1 or non-1, treatment responses were not significantly different. Multivariate analysis showed that HCV genotype only was an independent factor that affected sustained virologic response (p = 0.048). The proportions of treatment discontinuations in groups A and B were similar (10.1 vs. 10.6%; p = 1.000). Conclusions: PEG-IFN-α_2a or PEG-IFN-α_2b + ribavirin combination therapies showed similar efficacies and tolerabilities as initial treatments for chronic hepatitis C.