Hepatitis C Treatment

The current standard of care is double therapy with Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin. In Canada, this combination therapy is made by two different drug companies: Roche (Pegasys) and Schering (Pegatron). They are both good medications, resulting in SVR in about 50% of genotype 1 and over 80% of genotype 2 and genotype 3. However, those odds are lower if the liver is already cirrhotic. Furthermore, certain racial groups tend to not do as well, for example the US has reported that African Americans and Hispanic Whites do not do as well as Non-Hispanic Whites. In our clinic, we think that Asians (Chinese, Taiwanese, etc.) do better whereas South Asians don't do as well. Despite our successes, these treatments are not perfect because of the many possible side effects, the high costs, and the fact that they don't work on everyone. The decision to get treatment now or to wait for newer treatments is something that can be discussed with the specialist.