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ZADAXIN® used for HCV and HBV Patients

© Sharon Nicholson

ZADAXIN thymosin alpha 1, an immunotherapy, is a new therapy for the treatment of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. Research indicates that ZADAXIN is extremely helpful for use in patients who have weakened immune systems. Currently approved in only 20 countries, this product has entered into it's pivotal phase 3 with great reviews.

ZADAXIN is a synthetic version of thymosin alpha 1, a natural peptide which is produced by the thymus gland and circulates in the human body. Laboratory testing has led researchers to believe that ZADAXIN works by boosting the immune system's ability to produce T cells, which are the body's most potent defense against infectious diseases. It is ZADAXIN's ability to boost the immune system that makes it a promising therapy for such a wide variety of diseases such as Hepatitis B and C, cancer and HIV/AIDS. Research also suggests that ZADAXIN may act directly to kill virally infected and cancer cells.

ZADAXIN's Results

ZADAXIN has a unique therapeutic effect in the treatment of hepatitis B. Patients continue to improve long after treatment has stopped. In contrast, interferon treated patients suffer relapses in a significant number of cases. In the treatment of Hepatitis C, ZADAXIN has been most successful when used in combination with interferon. In every trial to date, the combination of ZADAXIN plus interferon has shown significantly better results than interferon alone. In addition, a number of trials have indicated that the combination of ZADAXIN and interferon produces a better longer-term response than interferon alone. In a US hepatitis C trial, ZADAXIN used in combination with interferon produced a positive response in 41.9% of the patients treated compared with only 16.6% among patients treated with interferon alone.

ZADAXIN has been shown to be extremely safe and well tolerated. There has been no evidence of toxicity and no reports of serious drug-related adverse reactions in over 3,000 patients studied to date.

Schering-Plough K. K., the Japanese subsidiary of Schering-Plough Corporation, is developing ZADAXIN in Japan under an exclusive agreement with SciClone. Schering-Plough K. K. is conducting a Phase 2 trial of ZADAXIN in Japanese patients with hepatitis C and a pivotal Phase 3 trial of ZADAXIN in Japanese patients with hepatitis B.

Some researchers believe that ZADAXIN used with the current combo interferon therapy will increase the percentage of successfully treatable patients.

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