Daily-Dose Consensus Interferon and Ribavirin: Efficacy of Combined Therapy

This Phase 3 clinical study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of two dose levels of Infergen (interferon alfacon-1, CIFN) plus Ribavirin administered daily for 48 weeks and no treatment in patients chronically infected with hepatitis C who are nonresponders to previous pegylated interferon alfa plus ribavirin therapy and participated during at least 24 weeks of no treatment in IRHC-001. At the time of randomization into IRHC-001, the no treatment arm patients will be concurrently randomized in a 1:1 ration to receive Interferon Alfacon-1 (9 or 15 µg) + Ribavirin (both administered daily) or no treatment for up to 48 weeks. Patients will not be eligible for consideration to receive treatment in IRHC-002 until they have completed a minimum of 24 weeks of participation in IRHC-001. The protocol and informed consent form that will be used must be approved by the Investigator's Institutional Review Board (IRB)/Independent Ethics Committee (IEC) before the study is initiated.