INTERFERON ALFACON-1

This is a 60-to-72 week multicenter study to evaluate Infergen and Ribavirin in patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Virus after partial response to treatment using peginterferon-alfa and Ribavirin therapy. The study will be conducted at approximately 50 sites across the United States.

Data have suggested that consensus interferon (CIFN) has greater antiviral activity in vitro compared with interferon alfa-2a or alfa-2b. Several clinical studies also suggest that CIFN has greater antiviral activity in patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C infection, particularly if given as a daily injection. These data indicate that the use of a regimen of daily CIFN and ribavirin will lead to greater virologic response rates compared with pegylated interferon alfa-2b and ribavirin in patients with genotype 1 infection, with comparable adverse events. Emerging data indicate that HCV genotype 1 patients with a delayed virologic response to initial therapy may benefit from an extended duration of therapy. Therefore, the goals of this pilot study are to determine the tolerability and efficacy of daily CIFN plus ribavirin when given for 52 weeks or an extended duration of therapy. The target population will consist of "difficult-to-treat" patients, defined as having the following characteristics: genotype 1, a North American patient population, predominantly male gender, and no specific exclusions for pre-existing psychiatric or substance abuse co-morbidities.