Long Term Interferon for Patients Who Did Not Clear Hepatitis C Virus With Standard Treatment

Completed · Phase 3

Conditions studied: Chronic Hepatitis c, Cirrhosis, Liver, Fibrosis, Liver, Hepatic Cirrhosis

In brief

The HALT-C Trial is a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases sponsored, randomized clinical trial of long-term use of Peginterferon alfa-2a (pegylated interferon) in patients who failed to respond to prior interferon treatment. All patients who enter the trial will be treated for 6 months with Peginterferon alfa-2a and Ribavirin. Patients who respond to this 6 month treatment will continue to be treated for an additional 6 months. Patients who do not respond to this treatment will be eligible for the long-term maintenance phase of this study where patients will be randomly selected to be treated with Peginterferon alfa-2a or to discontinue treatment for 3.5 years. Patients in both arms of this study will be followed closely with quarterly study visits. The combination of peginterferon plus ribavirin has recently been approved by the FDA for treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Patients who remain HCV-RNA positive after being treated for at least 6 months with peginterferon and ribavirin outside of this study may be eligible to directly enter the randomized portion of the HALT-C Trial. The HALT-C study is designed to determine if continuing interferon long-term over several years will suppress Hepatitis C virus, prevent progression to cirrhosis, prevent liver cancer and reduce the need for liver transplantation.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT00006164

Run by

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

People needed

1050

Starts

2000-06-01

Expected to finish

2009-10-01

Last updated by the study team

2020-05-12

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Age at entry at least 18 years.
• Positive for Hepatitis C.
• Previous treatment with any interferon or interferon and ribavirin for at least 3 months.
• Documented non-response to treatment with interferon.
• A liver biopsy demonstrating significant liver scarring.

You may not qualify if…

• No other liver disease.
• No unstable major medical diseases or conditions.
• No major complications of cirrhosis.
• No recent abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs.

Where it is running

• University of California-Irvine/VA Medical Center-Long Beach — Long Beach, California, United States
• USC School of Medicine — Los Angeles, California, United States
• UCHSC (University of Colorado) — Denver, Colorado, United States
• University of Connecticut Health Center — Farmington, Connecticut, United States
• Lds, Niddk, Nih — Bethesda, Maryland, United States
• Massachusetts General Hospital — Boston, Massachusetts, United States
• UMass Memorial HealthCare, University Campus — Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
• University of Michigan — Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
• Saint Louis University — St Louis, Missouri, United States
• University of Texas Southwestern - Dallas — Dallas, Texas, United States
• Medical College of Virginia — Richmond, Virginia, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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