@article{7bf87cd496104960a1fd03d1ba661879,
title = "Successful treatment of chronic hepatitis C with pegylated interferon in combination with ribavirin in a methadone maintenance treatment program",
abstract = "Injection drug users constitute 60% of the more than 4 million people in the United States with hepatitis C virus (HCV), including many methadone maintenance patients. Few data exist describing clinical outcomes for patients receiving HCV treatment on-site in methadone maintenance settings. In this retrospective study, we describe clinical outcomes for 73 patients receiving HCV treatment on-site in a methadone maintenance treatment program. Fifty-five percent of patients achieved end-of-treatment response, and 45% achieved sustained viral response. These treatment response rates are nearly equivalent to previously published HCV treatment response rates, despite high prevalences of ongoing drug use (49%), psychiatric comorbidity (67%), and HIV coinfection (32%). These data show that on-site HCV treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin is effective in methadone-maintained patients, many of whom are active drug users, psychiatrically ill, or HIV coinfected, and that methadone maintenance treatment programs represent an opportunity to safely treat chronic hepatitis C.",
keywords = "Chronic hepatitis C, HCV, Interferon, Methadone maintenance, Opiate agonist treatment",
author = "Litwin, {Alain H.} and Harris, {Kenneth A.} and Shadi Nahvi and Zamor, {Philippe J.} and Soloway, {Irene J.} and Tenore, {Peter L.} and Daniel Kaswan and Gourevitch, {Marc N.} and Arnsten, {Julia H.}",
note = "Funding Information: The Division of Substance Abuse is funded in part by contract C-002464 from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. The HIV primary care program receives funding from the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute. The HCV program and support groups receive funding from the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC U50/CCU224192). This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH R25 DA 14551) and a Center for AIDS Research grant (P30 A151519) awarded to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Litwin is supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH K23 022454) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Faculty Scholar Program. The authors thank Roy Cohen, M.D.; Xuan Li, M.S.; Ira Marion, M.S.; Sarah Church, Ph.D.; Diana Sylvestre, M.D.; Laxmi Modali, M.P.H.; John Reinus, M.D.; Akhil Singh, M.D.; Peter Wayne, M.D., Ph.D.; Brian Edlin, M.D.; Danielle Brown, M.P.H.; and Susan Whitley, M.D. We would also like to thank all DoSA medical providers, staff, and patients who participated in this treatment program. Drs. Litwin and Zamor have served on the Speakers Bureau of Roche Laboratories Inc.",
year = "2009",
month = jul,
doi = "10.1016/j.jsat.2008.09.009",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "37",
pages = "32--40",
journal = "Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment",
issn = "0740-5472",
publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",
number = "1",
}
