A New Form of the Immune-stimulating Interferon

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-- A new form of the immune-stimulating drug interferon offers a power boost to the treatment of hepatitis C, a virus long associated with the development of liver cancer. The new drug enters the bloodstream at higher levels and stays there longer, researchers say. And it apparently has fewer side effects. "With the old technology, the old interferon, you had to take the jabs three times a week and it was proven that the drug was pretty much gone from the body within 24 hours, so you went at least a day and a half or more between jabs with very little medication," says Dr Balart, chief of gastroenterology at Louisiana State University Health Science Centre in New Orleans,US, and an author of a new study on the drug. But because this form of interferon is absorbed more slowly and at a much more even rate, Balart says, "you have a very good, persistent level in your blood for about a week, with a single dose." That's not only better for patients, experts say, but also is a more effective way to treat the virus.

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