TRIAL DRUG BLASTS HEP C

A PROMISING new drug to combat the dangerous hepatitis C virus is on trial
in Australia as part of a global assault on the fastest-growing infectious
disease.

More than 120 patients in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are using a new
formulation called Pegasys which has shown dramatic results in reducing the
virus in bloodstreams to undetectable levels.

The drug is administered once a week in contrast to the standard interferon
treatment, which is given by injection three times a week.

Dr Paul Desmond, a clinical investigator at St Vincent's Hospital,
Melbourne, said reducing the number of times Pegasys was given had
significantly altered the patients' virus levels.

"It looks, like we can improve the current response rate to drug treatment
two to three-fold," Dr Desmond said.

"It is a major advantage over the drugs that are available to us at the
moment."

Research has shown that Pegasys reduced the virus to undetectable levels in
more than 75 per cent of patients within 12 weeks. Under current treatment,
the virus all but vanished in less than 20pc of patients.

In follow-up studies the effect was maintained for 24 weeks in 40pc of
patients on Pegasys. Virus levels remained undetected in only 3pc of
patients on currently available treatment.

Hepatitis C is a virus that mutates easily, making vaccination difficult. It
attacks the liver and will kill or seriously affect the lives of 80pc of
sufferers.

It affects between 150,000 and 200,000 Australians and is more common and
infectious than HIV.

The virus is transmitted by blood-to-blood contact, usually by sharing
needles, unsafe tattooing or body piercing, or by needle~stick injuries.

"If you use intravenous drugs over two to three years, you have an 80pc
chance of contracting hepatitis C," Dr Desmond said.