Hepatitis B e antigen as a predictor for hepatitis B e antigen–positive chronic hepatitis B patients with peginterferon alfa-2a therapy

✍ Scribed by En-Qiang Chen; Hong Tang

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 42 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-9139
• DOI: 10.1002/hep.23018

✦ Synopsis

PROVE1 trial, 1 in which in the group with an identical treatment schedule, the percentage of patients obtaining SVR with respect to RVR was 75% only. In other words, RVR seems easier to obtain with telaprevir, but less frequently predicts a favorable treatment outcome. A possible explanation might reside in the suboptimal exposure in the majority of telaprevir groups to peginterferon and ribavirin (12 or 24 weeks, instead of the standard 48 weeks); however, it should also be considered that common on-treatment virological predictors might have a different meaning when they are obtained through different pharmacological approaches. As the background of a picture may vary according to the position of either the subject or the photographer, so too when we frame RVR deriving from a different path, we might expect a different perspective. Our observation is not aimed at denoting a possible negative aspect in the use of a promising new drug; instead, we want to underscore the importance of constantly and critically revising the meaning of our on-treatment virological indicators when a new drug is employed. Hopefully, we will all become good photographers.