Posaconazole or Fluconazole for Prophylaxis in Severe Graft-versus-Host Disease

Invasive fungal infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.In an international, randomized, double-blind trial, we compared oral posaconazole with oral fluconazole for prophylaxis against invasive fungal infections in patients with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) who were receiving immunosuppressive therapy. The primary end point was the incidence of proven or probable invasive fungal infections from randomization to day 112 of the fixed treatment period of the study.Of a total of 600 patients, 301 were assigned to posaconazole and 299 to fluconazole. At the end of the fixed 112-day treatment period, posaconazole wa…

Posaconazole (POS) vs fluconazole (FLU) for prophylaxis of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD): A multicenter trial

Safety of Long-Term Oral Posaconazole Use in the Treatment of Refractory Invasive Fungal Infections

Background Invasive fungal infections are found most frequently in immunosuppressed and critically ill hospitalized patients. Antifungal therapy is often required for long periods. Safety data from the clinical development program of the triazole antifungal agent, posaconazole, were analyzed. Methods A total of 428 patients with refractory invasive fungal infections (n = 362) or febrile neutropenia (n = 66) received posaconazole in 2 phase II/III open-label clinical trials. Also, 109 of these patients received posaconazole therapy for > or = 6 months. Incidences of treatment-emergent, treatment-related, and serious adverse events and abnormal laboratory parameters were recorded during these…

Factors that predict response of patients with hepatitis C virus infection to boceprevir

Background & Aims Little is known about factors associated with a sustained virologic response (SVR) among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection to treatment with protease inhibitors. Methods Previously untreated patients (from the Serine Protease Inhibitor Therapy 2 [SPRINT-2] trial) and those who did not respond to prior therapy (from the Retreatment with HCV Serine Protease Inhibitor Boceprevir and PegIntron/Rebetol 2 [RESPOND-2] trial) received either a combination of peginterferon and ribavirin for 48 weeks or boceprevir, peginterferon, and ribavirin (triple therapy) after 4 weeks of peginterferon and ribavirin (total treatment duration, 28–48 wk). A good response to interfer…

Peginterferon alfa-2b plus weight-based ribavirin for 24 weeks in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1 with low viral load who achieve rapid viral response

Summary.  In chronic hepatitis C (CHC), treatment duration may be individualized according to time to first undetectable hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA, with patients who attain undetectable HCV RNA early in treatment being candidates for shorter regimens. The aim of this study was to determine the relapse rate in patients with CHC genotype (G) 1 infection and low baseline viral load who achieved undetectable HCV RNA by week 4 [rapid virologic response (RVR)] when treated for 24 weeks. This was an open-label, multicentre, noninterventional study. Adult patients with G1 CHC infection and baseline viral load <600,000 IU/mL who attained RVR were treated with peginterferon alfa-2b (1.5 μg/kg/week)…