Roche Pharmaceuticals: PEGASYS(r) and COPEGUS(r) Dominate Hepatitis C Treatment Abstracts

BASEL, Switzerland, April 13, /PR Newswire/ - At the 39th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in Berlin (April 14-18), Rochès commitment to finding solutions for hepatitis patients will be evident when 17 abstracts are presented, which demonstrate the efficacy and safety of PEGASYS(r) and COPEGUS(r) in hepatitis C and PEGASYS in hepatitis B.

Among the highlights are new findings from three ground-breaking global trials recently completed in patients with HIV-HCV co-infection,'normal’ ALT, and hepatitis B.

- APRICOT, the first and only global trial examining the role of pegylated interferon combination therapy (PEGASYS and COPEGUS) in patients co-infected with HIV and HCV will have its final results presented, including data on the predictability of treatment outcome from a patient's early virological response.

- For the many patients with HCV and persistently normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, new evidence will be presented about the positive impact of successful treatment on a patient's quality of life and what ability there was to predict treatment outcome early on in therapy; and

- The final results of a Phase III study of PEGASYS in HBeAg-negative hepatitis B will be announced, including the observation of HBV surface antigen loss - the most complete response possible to treatment and indicative of a complete remission. If left untreated, patients with HBeAg- negative HBV are more likely to develop severe liver disease than those with HBeAg-positive disease.

Interested journalists may view the text of abstracts selected for presentation, as well as the meeting schedule on-line at www.easl.ch.

per maggiori informazioni:
For more information, please contact: Sheila Gies, Roche, Tel: + 1 973 687 0188 (mobile), + 1 973 235 4347; Alison Thorpe, Burson-Marsteller, Tel: +44 20 7300 6324