Extended treatment with pegylated interferon alfa/ribavirin in patients with genotype 2/3 chronic hepatitis C who do not achieve a rapid virological response: final analysis of the randomised N-CORE trial

Background and aims The combination of pegylated interferon alfa/ribavirin will likely remain the treatment of choice for HCV genotype 2/3 patients in financially constrained countries for the foreseeable future. Patients with poor on-treatment response may benefit from treatment extension. This study examined the effect of 48 versus 24 weeks of peginterferon alfa-2a/ribavirin on the sustained virological response (SVR) in patients with HCV genotype 2/3 who did not achieve rapid virological response (RVR).