July 2003
July 16 -- Dan MacKenzie

Room 220 - Little Known Alternatives to Kill a Virus.

Upcoming Agendas:
Meeting Agenda:
6:30 p.m. (sharp) - Theme Song: I Will Survive
6:35 - 6:45 Announcements
6:45 - 8:15 Dan Mackenzie
8:15 - 8:45 (or earlier) questions/answers 'til we adjourn

August 20 -- Clsrm 3&4 --support group members interact
Quarterly Business Meeting of I Will Survive

5:30 p.m., July 16, 2003, Rm 220 - All are encouraged to attend (1 hr. prior to regular meeting) and to consider becoming involved in helping with support group chores.
More News
Our Meetings: 3rd Wednesdays of every month; at SCC (Sutter Cancer Center, aka: Buhler Bldg) classroom 3&4 or Room 220; 2800 L St (@ 28th & L: kitty corner across from the 2-story parking & across L St. from Sutter Hospital)
Contact Us: Phone number: (916) 444-6996
Our Web Site> www.sacmall.net/transplant/hepc.html
Email: dck@innercite.com (include "I Will Survive" in subject line or your message might be delected before being read).
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From July HCV Advocate:
From the Digestive Disease Week (DDW) Conference in Orlando:
...Overall sustained response rates are as high as 61% with pegylated interferon alpha 2a (Pegasys) and 53% with pegylated interferon alpha 2b (Peg Intron), with 46% - 51% for genotype 1 with Pegasys and 42% for Peg Intron. Pegasys demonstrates increased efficacy over Rebetron in the most difficult to treat patients, (genotype 1 and high viral load (>2 million copies/ml)) as well as those patients with advanced liver disease. The increased effectiveness of pegylated interferon plus ribavirin therapy has resulted in increased side effects, such as anemia and neutropenia most of which respond to reduced doses of one or both of the medications or to the use of growth factors, such as erythropoietin (Procrit) or Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ((G-CSF)-Neupogen).
...In the near future hepatitis C therapy will consist of efforts to individualize and maximize current therapies (pegylated interferons in combination with ribavirin), will include the use of mycophenolate mofetil and other immunomodulators as well as ribavirin analogs (levovirin and viramidine) and will get away from "one size fits all".
...Flamm are comparing the current approved dose of pegylated interferon alfa-2b (Peg-Intron - 1.5 mcg/kg/wk) plus ribavirin (800-1400 mg/day) with a lower dose of pegylated interferon alfa-2b (Peg-Intron - 1.0 mcg/kg/wk) and ribavirin (800-1400 mg/day). Earlier published monotherapy trials with pegylated interferon alpha 2b (Peg Intron) showed equal effectiveness between regimens involving pegylated interferon alfa-2b at 1.0 mcg/kg/wk and 1.5 mcg/kg/wk, but Schering Plough pursued the 1.5 mcg/kg/wk dose for their combination approval. If this combination trial data presented at DDW 2003 can show equal benefit with the lower pegylated interferon alpha 2b dose at the end of the study, it may aid in decreasing side effects associated with pegylated interferon alpha 2b therapy, without decreasing effectiveness. It does however challenge the weight based theory, which Schering claims is needed to customize Peg-Intron according to a person's weight.
...Currently 250,000 children in the United States are infected with hepatitis C. Investigators reported that Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a) is being well tolerated in children and that concentrations of peginterferon alfa-2a were slightly higher than in adults following a fixed 180 microgram dose. The effectiveness of Pegasys monotherapy in children appears higher than that reported for adults and approaches that for standard interferon in combination with ribavirin in children. These results support further study of Pegasys, with and without ribavirin, in children with chronic hepatitis.
...The majority of injection drug users (IDUs) are infected with hepatitis C virus and are often treated with methadone maintenance therapy (MTT).
Investigators reported that the use of Pegasys in patients on methadone maintenance therapy is well tolerated and that the pharmacokinetics of either Pegasys or methadone are not altered with the biologic responses similar to those in healthy subjects. Furthermore, the HCV RNA decline was similar to that seen in chronic hepatitis C patients not receiving methadone maintenance therapy.
...While the overall sustained response of naïve hepatitis C patients is 53-61% with the newer pegylated interferon/ribavirin combinations, the interest and need for successful treatment of non responders gained a considerable amount of attention at DDW 2003. In interferon (IFN) non-responders with chronic hepatitis C, retreatment with standard interferons combined with ribavirin showed sustained virologic response rates of 20-30%. Concerning the effectiveness of antiviral retreatment in patients not responding to a previous treatment with standard interferons combined with ribavirin, only limited data with conflicting results are available..

If you have no money or insurance call:
Sacramento Clinical Trials
Schering's Commitment to Care 1-800-521-7157
Infergen's Safety Net Program 1-888-508-8088
Roche's Patient Assistance 1-800-443-6676
Dr. Gish, et al, call: Pacific Hepatology, (916) 443-0503
Dr. Pimstone UCD Med Center, (916) 734-1557
Dr. Rossaro UCD Med Cntr, call: Katherine Suggett (916) 734-8696



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