Update on the treatment of patients with non-genotype 1 hepatitis C virus infection.

Current treatment for patients with non-genotype 1 hepatitis C virus infection consists of pegylated interferon plus ribavirin for 24 weeks, which leads to sustained virologic response (SVR) rates of 65%-80%. In the United States, the ribavirin dose for genotypes 2 and 3 is 800 mg/day. However, the use of weight-based ribavirin allows for the potential to shorten the duration of treatment from 24 to 12-14 weeks without reducing SVR rates in individuals who have undetectable viral loads at treatment week 4 and do not have severe liver disease. For patients who are still viremic at week 4, treatment durations even longer than 24 weeks are advised in Europe. In addition, accumulating evidence shows that for patients with unfavorable baseline characteristics, using weight-based ribavirin may increase SVR. In patients who do not achieve SVR with ribavirin 800 mg/day for 24 weeks, retreatment with weight-based ribavirin should be considered. The impact of new molecules in development will be discussed.