References
- World Health Organization. Fact Sheet Number 164. Available from URL: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs164/ en/print.html [accessed March 12, 2007]
- Kim WR. The burden of hepatitis C in the United States. Hepatology 2002;36:S30–S34
- Davis GL, Esteban-Mur R, Rustgi V, et al. Interferon alfa-2b alone or in combination with ribavirin for the treatment of relapse of chronic hepatitis C. New Engl J Med 1998;339: 1493–9
- McHutchison JG, Gordon SC, Schiff ER, et al. Interferon alfa-2b alone or in combination with ribavirin as initial treatment for chronic hepatitis C. New Engl J Med 1998;339: 1485–92
- Poynard T, Marcellin P, Lee SS, et al. Randomised trial of interferon α-2b plus ribavirin for 48 weeks or for 24 weeks versus interferon α-2b plus placebo for 48 weeks for treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus. Lancet 1998;352:1426–32
- Manns MP, McHutchison JG, Gordon SC, et al. Peginteron-alfa-2b plus ribavirin compared with interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin for initial treatment of chronic hepatitis C: a randomized trial. Lancet 2001;358:958–65
- Fried MW, Shiffman ML, Reddy R, et al. Peg interferon alfa-2a plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C virus infection. New Engl J Med 2002;347:975–82
- Hadziyannis SJ, Settee H, Morgan TR, et al. PEGASYS International Study Group. Peginterferon-α2a and ribavirin combination therapy in chronic hepatitis C. Ann Intern Med 2004;140:346–55
- Shiratori Y, Ito Y, Yokosuka O, et al.; Tokyo-Chiba Hepatitis Research Group. Antiviral therapy for cirrhotic hepatitis C: association with reduced hepatocellular carcinoma development and improved survival. Ann Intern Med 2005;142:105–14
- McHutchison JG, Manns M, Patel K, et al.; International Hepatitis Interventional Therapy Group. Adherence to combination therapy enhances sustained response in genotype-1 infected patients with chronic hepatitis C. Gastroenterology 2002;123: 1061–9
- Shiffman ML, Price A, Hubbard S, et al. Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 with peginterferon alfa-2b (PEGIFN), high weight based dose ribavirin (RVN) and epoetin alfa (EPO) enhances sustained virologic response (SVR). Hepatology 2005;42(Suppl 1):217A
- Sulkowski MS, Wasserman R, Brooks L, et al. Changes in haemoglobin during interferon alpha-2b plus ribavirin combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus infection. J Viral Hepatitis 2004;11:243–50
- Talal AH, Weisz K, Hau T, et al. A preliminary study of erythropoietin for anemia associated with ribavirin and interferon-α. Am J Gastroenterol 2003;96:2802–3
- Gaeta GB, Precone DF, Felaco FM, et al. Premature discontinuation of interferon plus ribavirin for adverse effects: a multi-centre survey in ‘real world’ patients with chronic hepatitis C. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2002;16:1633–9
- Peck-Radosavljevic M, Wichlas M, Homoncik-Kraml M, et al. Rapid suppression of hematopoiesis by standard or pegylated interferon-alfa. Gastroenterology 2002;123:141–51
- Reddy KR, Wright TL, Pockros PJ, et al. Efficacy and safety of pegylated (40-kd) interferon α-2a compared with interferon α-2a in noncirrhotic patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 2001;33:433–8
- Balan V, Schwartz D, Wu GY, et al.; HCV Natural History Study Group. Erythropoietic response to anemia in chronic hepatitis C patients receiving combination pegylated interferon/ ribavirin. Am J Gastroenterol 2005;100:299–307
- Dieterich D, Weisz K, Goldman D, et al. Interferon (IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) therapy for hepatitis C (HCV) in HIV-co-infected patients. In: Program and abstracts of the 39th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (San Francisco, CA). Washington (DC): American Society for Micro-biology; 1999. p. 415 [abstract]
- Dieterich DT, Wasserman R, Brau N, et al. Once-weekly epoetin alfa improves anemia and facilitates maintenance of ribavirin dosing in hepatitis C virus-infected patients receiving ribavirin plus interferon alfa. Am J Gastroenterol 2003;98:2491–9
- Afdhal NH, Dieterich DT, Pockros PJ, et al.; Proactive Study Group. Epoetin alfa maintains ribavirin dose in HCV-infected patients: a prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled study. Gastroenterology 2004;126:1302–11
- AHFS Drug Information 2005. Bethesda: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, 2005
- Younossi ZM, Ong JP, Collantes R. Darbepoetin alfa for ribavirin-induced anemia in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with pegylated interferon and ribavirin: a preliminary analysis [Abstract]. Gastroenterology 2004;126(Suppl 1):83A
- Senkbeil LE, Moss JG, Gaglio PJ, et al. Erythropoietin maintains ribavirin dose and sustained virologic response during HCV treatment. Hepatology 2003;38(Suppl 1):744A
- Devine EB, Kowdley KV, Veenstra DL, Sullivan SD. Management strategies for ribavirin-induced hemolytic anemia in the treatment of hepatitis C: clinical and economic implications. Value Health 2001;4:376–84
- Bizollon T, Palazzo U, Ducerf C, et al. Pilot study of the combination of interferon alfa and ribavirin as therapy of recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation. Hepatology 1997;26:400–4
- Fischer L, Sterneck M, Valentin-Gamazo C, et al. Treatment of severe recurrent hepatitis C after liver transplantation with ribavirin plus interferon-alpha. Transplant Proc 1999;31:494–5
- Gane EJ, Portmann BC, Naoumov NV, et al. Long-term outcome of hepatitis C infection after liver transplantation. New Engl J Med 1996;334:815–20
- Lindahl K, Stahle L, Bruchfeld A, Schvarcz R. High-dose ribavirin in combination with standard dose peginterferon for treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 2005;41:275–9
- Anon. Red book. Montvale (NJ): Thomson PDR; 2005
- Drugstore.com. Available from URL: http://www.drugstore. com/ [accessed March 12, 2007]
- Anon. Current procedural terminology, CPT 2005. Chicago: AMA Press; 2005
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule CY2005 November 17, 2004 . Available from URL: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/pufdownload/clfdown.asp [accessed December 15, 2005]
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Available from URL: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ physicians/mpfsapp/step0.asp [accessed December 15, 2005]
- Coyle D, Lee KM, Fergusson DA, Laupacis A. Cost-effectiveness of epoetin alpha to augment preoperative autologous blood donation in elective cardiac surgery. Pharmacoeconomics 2000;18:161–71
- MacLaren R, Sullivan PW. Cost-effectiveness of recombinant human erythropoietin for reducing red blood cells transfusions in critically ill patients. Value in Health 2005;8:105–16
- Spiegel BM, Chen K, Chiou CF, et al. Erythropoietic growth factors for treatment-induced anemia in hepatitis C: a cost-effectiveness analysis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2005;3: 1034–42
- Campbell MS, Sun JC, Lee BY, et al. Administration of erythropoietin for hepatitis C treatment-related anemia is not cost-effective. Hepatology 2005;42(Suppl 1):346A
- Del Rio RA, Post AB, Singer ME. Cost-effectiveness of hematologic growth factors for anemia occurring during hepatitis C combination therapy. Hepatology 2006;44:1598–606
- Reddy KR, Hadziyannis SJ, Diago M, et al. The influence of cumulative peginterferon alpha-2a (40 Kda) and ribavirin (RBV) exposure on sustained virological response (SBR) rates in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C. J Hepatol 2005;42(Suppl 2):217
- Chang CH, Chen KY, Lai MY, Chan KA. Meta-analysis: ribavirin-induced haemolytic anaemia in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2002;16:1623–32
- Rossert J; Pure red cell aplasia global scientific advisory board (GSAB). Erythropoietin-induced, antibody-mediated pure red cell aplasia. Eur J Clin Invest 2005;35(Suppl 3):95–9
- Mauskopf JA, Sullivan SD, Annemans L, et al. Principles of good practice for budget impact analysis: report of the ISPOR task force on good research practices – budget impact analysis. Value Health 2006:10. Available from URL: http://www.ispor. org/workpaper/budget_impact.asp [accessed: March 15, 2007]