Vitamins Assist Treatment Of Hepatitis C
Madrid, Spain, 18 April 2002

Data presented today at the 37th annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Madrid, Spain, showed that physicians can offer optimal treatment for hepatitis C by tailoring the dose of pegintron and rebetol to individual patients and supplementing treatment with vitamins.

Management of hepatitis C therapy with pegintron and rebetol has benefited from the addition of the antioxidant vitamins C and E, which protect red blood cells, according to Dr. Esteban-Mur.

"We know from recent studies that supplementing ribavirin with the antioxidants vitamin C and E dramatically reduces the risk of red-blood-cell loss that may occur during treatment and result in the need to lower a patient's ribavirin dose," said Dr. Esteban-Mur. "While preliminary, these results are important clinically, since adding these antioxidants to patients' regimens may enable more patients to maintain an appropriate dose of ribavirin, thus optimising their treatment outcome."

Chronic hepatitis C is estimated to affect nearly 12 million people in major world markets. Chronic hepatitis C is a leading cause of chronic liver disease and may lead to the need for a liver transplant.

Source

Schering-Plough International, via PR Newswire.