Active clinical trials for "Hepatitis A"

The effects of treatment with different doses of PEGASYS in combination with different doses of ribavirin will be evaluated in patients with CHC genotype 1 who have a high viral titer, body weight greater than 85kg (187lbs) and no prior treatment with interferon. The anticipated time on study treatment is 3-12 months and the target sample size is 100-500 individuals.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of adefovir dipivoxil for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in children and adolescents (age 2 to less than 18 years) following 48 weeks of placebo-controlled, double-blind treatment and following an additional 192 weeks of open-label adefovir dipivoxil treatment.

This study will evaluate the long-term safety and effectiveness of lamivudine therapy and the possibility of stopping therapy in patients whose hepatitis B is chronic, that is, long lasting, and which has responded to treatment. Chronic hepatitis B, caused by a virus, is a common form of liver disease affecting about 1 million Americans and about 5 percent of the world's population. Health effects include a continuous state of being infectious and the risk of transmitting hepatitis to other people, symptoms of liver disease, and development of cirrhosis-that is, severe damage to the liver-and liver cancer. Lamivudine is a medication that blocks hepatitis B effectively but does not make it disappear completely. Scientists believe that the immune system must also be active to rid the body of the last traces of hepatitis B. Patients ages 18 and older who have chronic hepatitis B and are being treated with lamivudine may be eligible to participate in this study. They will undergo a medical history and physical examination and will be given lamivudine in 100 mg tablets to be taken as one tablet, once each day. Patients will be asked to return to the outpatient clinic every 3 months, when they will undergo a brief interview and measurement of vital signs-such as blood pressure, pulse, and body weight. During the visits, they will fill out questionnaires about any symptoms or side effects they have, and they will be seen by a doctor and have a brief medical history and examination. There will be a collection of blood for complete blood counts, liver enzymes, and hepatitis B virus. Extra blood tests may be done to analyze patients' immune reactions to hepatitis B. Patients will also receive refills of their lamivudine tablets. They will continue to be treated with lamivudine as long as it seems to control the hepatitis infection and liver disease. At intervals of about 1 year, patients will have ultrasound examinations, lasting about 1 hour, of the liver and abdomen. Then at intervals of about 5 years, patients will undergo liver biopsies, which require a hospital stay of 2 to 3 days. A liver biopsy is done by passing a needle through the skin into the liver to obtain a piece of liver about 2 inches long and 1/16-inch in diameter. A small amount of bleeding probably occurs with most liver biopsies. Internal bleeding is a risk, which may require that the patient stay in the hospital a few days longer, for rest, observation and pain medicine. The biopsy provides information that proves whether lamivudine is controlling the liver disease and preventing it from worsening or progressing to cirrhosis. Side effects of lamivudine include fatigue, muscle aches, fever and chills, sore throat, nausea, stomach pain or cramps, and diarrhea. Serious side effects are rare, occurring in less than 1% of people taking lamivudine. They include inflammation of the pancreas, nerve damage, and buildup of lactic acid in the blood. About 25% of patients experience a temporary worsening, or flare, of hepatitis during the first few months of treatment. If flares are severe, it is important for researchers to determine whether they are caused by resistance to lamivudine or by the immune system acting against the hepatitis B virus or another liver condition. A flare of hepatitis can also occur when lamivudine is stopped, that is, a withdrawal. In such situations, testing for hepatitis B virus levels and other liver conditions is important. It may lead to other treatments or stopping lamivudine and taking another medication instead. While patients are participating in the study, they will have a careful evaluation of their hepatitis and general condition. They may have an improvement in their disease as a result of long-term lamivudine therapy.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate antiviral activity and efficacy of entecavir (ETV) compared to adefovir in adults with chronic hepatitis B who have not been treated yet with an antiviral medicine.

This single arm study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of PEGASYS (180 micrograms sc weekly) plus ribavirin (1000-1200mg po daily) in treatment-naive Latino patients versus non-Latino Caucasian patients with chronic hepatitis C- genotype 1. The anticipated time on study treatment is 3-12 months and the target sample size is 500+ patients.

This study is being conducted to compare the effectiveness of the combination of valtorcitabine and telbivudine to telbivudine alone in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

This research study is being conducted to compare the safety and effectiveness of the investigational medication, LdT (telbivudine) versus adefovir dipivoxil, a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of hepatitis B infection. The results for patients taking LdT will be compared to results for patients taking adefovir dipivoxil.

Injection drug use accounts for transmission of a high proportion of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections. The purpose of this trial is to investigate the effectiveness of pegylated interferon in treating injection drug users (IDUs) with acute HCV.

The presence of insulin resistance (IR) appears to be a key factor in the development of steatosis and disease progression in patience with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype-1 infections similar to levels in Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The objective of this study is to determine whether Pioglatizone, when given along with Interferon and Ribavirin, reduces insulin resistance and lowers HCV viral levels and improved response in patients who have HCV genotype-1 infection when compared to a placebo.

In order to prevent organ rejection, patients receiving liver transplants currently require life-long treatment with immune system-suppressing medications to prevent the rejection of the transplanted liver. However, these medications can cause long-term side effects, such as infection, kidney problems, diabetes, and cancer. In patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), these medications may increase the risk of HCV infection in the transplanted liver. The purpose of this study is to determine whether a slow withdrawal of immune system-suppressing medications is safe in two groups of subjects: those who receive a liver transplant due to HCV, and those who receive a liver transplant due to non-immune, non-viral causes of liver failure. The study will also look at whether slow withdrawal will help reduce the long-term side effects of immune system-suppressing medications and decrease the chance for HCV infection of the new liver in transplant patients with HCV.