Pegasys receives positive opinion in EU

Published: 31-Jan-2005

The EU Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has granted a positive opinion for Roche's Pegasys (peginterferon α-2a (40KD)) in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.


The EU Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has granted a positive opinion for Roche's Pegasys (peginterferon α-2a (40KD)) in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

The decision, granted for both types of the disease - HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B (CHB) - will see a recommendation go to the EU Commission for final approval.

Pegasys, already the worldwide market leader in hepatitis C, works with a dual mode of action, stimulating the immune system as well as inhibiting virus replication. This offers physicians a new option with the advantages of a finite treatment duration and lasting remission from the disease, avoiding the burden of putting their patients on a life-long therapy.

'Studies have shown that Pegasys offers the best chance for a sustained response, in a defined treatment period, for chronic hepatitis B patients,' said Professor Patrick Marcellin, hepatologist at Hopital Beaujon, Clichy, France.

The CHMP positive opinion was based on one of the largest clinical development programmes in chronic hepatitis B, which included three global studies in more than 1,500 patients from 19 countries.

  

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