Faculty Bibliography

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of epoetin alfa in alleviating anemia and minimizing ribavirin (RBV) dose reductions in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection receiving combination RBV/interferon alfa (IFN) therapy.HCV-infected patients who had Hb levels of 12 g/dl or less during the first 24 wk of combination RBV/IFN therapy (n = 64) were randomized to treatment with epoetin alfa (40,000 units) s.c. q.w. or to standard of care (SOC) for anemia management (RBV dose reduction or discontinuation, transfusions). Primary and secondary efficacy endpoints were changes in Hb level and RBV dosage, respectively, from baseline to week 16 of epoetin alfa therapy.Based on intent-to-treat analysis, the mean changes from baseline Hb levels at week 16 were +2.8 g/dl for epoetin alfa versus +0.4 g/dl for SOC (p < 0.0001), and the mean changes in RBV dosage were -34 mg/day for epoetin alfa versus -146 mg/day (p = 0.060) for SOC. The mean Hb level at week 16 in the epoetin alfa group (13.8 g/dl) was significantly (p < 0.0001) higher than that of the SOC group (11.4 g/dl). At week 4 and subsequently, significantly more patients in the epoetin alfa group did not have RBV dosage reductions (p < 0.011). At study end, 83% of epoetin alfa-treated patients maintained RBV dosages of at least 800 mg/day, compared with 54% of patients receiving SOC (p = 0.022). Epoetin alfa was well tolerated.In anemic HCV-infected patients treated with RBV/IFN, epoetin alfa increases Hb levels and maintains RBV dosing. Based on these results, epoetin alfa seems to be promising in the treatment of HCV treatment-related anemia. Further research is warranted to determine the potential impact on outcomes, including quality of life and sustained viral response rate

HAART has resulted in dramatic declines in morbidity and mortality among patients infected with HIV. Increased experience with HAART has led to the detection of drug related toxicities that may compromise adherence and necessitate discontinuation of treatment and alteration of otherwise effective regimens. This article considers the major long-term complications associated with nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) use--hyperlactatemia and lactic acidosis/hepatic steatosis, other hepatotoxicities, pancreatitis, lipodystrophy, lipoatrophy, neuropathy, and hematologic toxicities. Mechanisms by which NRTIs may produce these effects are discussed, as are differential effects of agents in this class and management options

Because of shared modes of transmission, co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is common. Co-infection with HIV increases HCV virus load, liver-related mortality, and the risk of sexual and perinatal transmission of HCV, and it may accelerate HCV disease progression. With combination interferon (IFN)-alpha 2b/ribavirin or pegylated IFN-alpha 2b/ribavirin therapy, long-term remission is possible for HCV-infected patients. Preliminary evidence suggests that the combination of IFN-alpha 2b/ribavirin can achieve similar response rates in HCV/HIV-co-infected individuals with no adverse effect on HIV RNA concentrations. Although adverse effects are more frequent with combination therapy than with IFN-alpha monotherapy, most are manageable. In addition, few instances of drug-drug antagonism have been reported among drugs used to treat each disease, although further study is necessary. Ribavirin-associated hemolytic anemia is a potential problem in a patient population that is already susceptible to anemia but is manageable with recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin alfa)