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Cannabis Use Can Improve Effectiveness of Hepatitis C Therapy

UCSF Today

Thursday 14 Sep 2006

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Recent research by Diana L. Sylvestre, MD, assistant clinical professor
in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San
Francisco, and colleagues suggests that the use of cannabis during
hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment may offer symptomatic and virological
benefit to some patients by helping them maintain adherence to the
challenging and often painful medication regimen.

Standard HCV therapy entails the use of two powerful drugs, interferon
and ribavirin, over a period of months. Due to severe side effects from
these drugs, many patients do not finish treatment, and as a result may
develop chronic liver disease, cirrhosis or liver cancer.

Many HCV patients use cannabis for symptom relief, but the lack of
availability of data about such use on treatment outcomes leaves
clinicians without the necessary data to inform recommendations. To add
to the body of clinical data, Sylvestre and colleagues conducted a
prospective observational study of standard interferon and ribavirin
treatment in 71 recovering substance users, of whom 22 (31%) used
cannabis and 49 (69%) did not.

In the study, nearly one-quarter of patients discontinued therapy early,
including one cannabis user (5%) and 16 non-users (33%). Although
cannabis users were no more likely than non-users to take at least 80%
of the prescribed interferon or ribavirin, they were significantly more
likely to remain on HCV treatment for at least 80% of the projected
treatment duration (95% of cannabis users versus 67% of non-users), and
were three times more likely (54% of cannabis users versus 18% of
non-users) to be classified as sustained virological responders (no
detectable virus six months after the end of treatment).
http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/feature/200609136.html

 

 

 

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