I finished treatment with Peg-Intron and Ribavirin in 2007, after a 24 week course. I acheived non-detectable levels of HCVRNA after 4 weeks of treatment. I have, however, since relapsed.
My current doctor would like to retreat with Infergen and Ribavirin, with the belief that the HCV virus has developed some form of immunity to the pegylated interferon.
t mention that she took ribavirin pills too, you only state she took peg-intron. Hopefully she took ribavirin pills along with the peg-intron, because taking both interferon and ribavirin together greatly improves her chances of being cured.
3. Did your mom have a liver biopsy? A liver biopsy is a procedure where they stick a needle in your abdomen and remove a tiny sample of liver tissue.
SVR for Peg-Intron plus Rebetol combination therapy is 41% for genotype 1, and 82% for genotypes 2 through 6. Peg-Intron is a reconstituted powder that is dosed according to a person's weight.
Roche’s Pegasys plus Copegus:
SVR for Pegasys plus Copegus combination therapy is 44-51% for genotype 1, and 70-82% for genotypes 2 through 6. Pegasys is a ready-made solution that is dosed at 180µg regardless of a person's weight.
But, it was with the same types of interferon and not with like Infergen and plus Pegasys. I was like using Peg-Intron plus daily low dose shots of regular Intron-A interferon (which are basically the same types of interferon). The only difference between Peg-Intron and Intron-A is that Peg-Intron is the pegulated form of Intron-A. Also, those of you who are old-timers on here will remember Doubledose guy, he did it also. So... Just to let you know.
There is pegylated interferon, which you give yourself a shot once a week. There is interferon which you used to give a shot daily. The pegylated version attaches Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG) to the molecules to make it stay in your blood at higher concentrations longer. Kind of like a time release (sort of) .The 2 manufacturers of PEG being Roche (pegasys) and Sherring Plough (Peg-Intron). The main difference between those two is the molecule size.
PEG IFN alpha 2a (Pegasys) has a branched PEG molecule and many report the peak of their sides to be 3-4 days after the shot. PEG IFN alpha 2b (Peg-Intron) has a much quicker onset with the peak seeming to come a day or two after the shot and diminishing right about the time Pegasys reachs it's peak.
Again, this is just a rough pattern and doesn't hold true for everyone and there is much greater variation between individuals than there are similarities.
Thanks for posting these I found them very helpful in deciding on my husbands third attempt at treating. He has used Pegintron and responded too slow (2 log drop at 13 weeks but too late for Ideal trial) next was Infergen but they had to keep lowering riba and he had a breakthrough. Joe has cirrhosis and his labs are low enough that this is likely our last chance to treat so I sure don't want to blow our last bullet.
Pegasys = Alpha 2a
Peg-Intron = Alpha 2b
The SVR rate for geno 1's using Intron A (pre-peg) with ribavirin was 14%.
The treatment with most promising results is a combination of pegylated interferon alfa (Pegasys, PEG-Intron) and the antiviral drug, ribavirin. Interferon alfa is a protein which the human body produces naturally as a defense response to viral infections. Pegylation describes a chemical process that makes the interferon last longer in the body. Interferon increases the potency of ribavirin in the treatment of HCV.
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