Current status and future directions in the management of chronic hepatitis C

Table 2 A comparison of Peg-IFN-α-2a and Peg-IFN-α-2b

	Peg-IFN-α-2a	Peg-IFN-α-2b	Remark
Size	Large polyethylene glycol moiety	Relatively small polyethylene glycol moiety	Polyethylene glycol moiety in Peg-IFN-α-2a is twice the size of that in Peg-INF-α-2b [9].
Common Dose	180 μg/week subcutaneously	1.5 μg/kg/wk subcutaneously
Efficacy*	Worse	Better
Infant and Neonatal use	Contraindicated	Safe	Peg-IFN-α-2a contains benzyl alcohol [9].

*The results of a randomized trial suggested that, despite its relatively short half-life, Peg-IFN-α-2b results in a greater decrease in HCV RNA than Peg-IFN-α-2a during the first four weeks of monotherapy [25]. However, there was no difference observed between Peg-IFN-α-2b plus ribavirin and Peg-IFN-α-2a plus ribavirin in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in HIV-infected patients [26]

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