For this indication, competent medicine agencies globally authorize below treatments:
Subcutaneous
3,000,000 - 3,000,000 [iU] per m² of body surface area (BSA)
From 3,000,000 To 3,000,000 [iU] per m² of body surface area (BSA) once every 2 day(s)
Interferon alpha-2b 3 MIU/m² is administered subcutaneously 3 times a week (every other day) in combination with ribavirin capsules or oral solution administered orally in two divided doses daily with food (morning and evening).
The efficacy and safety of interferon alpha-2b in combination with ribavirin has been studied in children and adolescents who have not been previously treated for chronic hepatitis C.
Genotype 1: The recommended duration of treatment is one year. Patients who fail to achieve virological response at 12 weeks are highly unlikely to become sustained virological responders (negative predictive value 96%). Therefore, it is recommended that children and adolescent patients receiving interferon alpha-2b/ribavirin combination be discontinued from therapy if their week 12 HCV-RNA dropped <2 log10 compared to pretreatment, or if they have detectable HCV-RNA at treatment week 24.
Genotype 2/3: The recommended duration of treatment is 24 weeks.