ADVANCE Trial Advances to Superior Viral Response Rates Using Telaprevir

Photo of Dr. Ira M. Jacobson, Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Dr. Jacobson

November 2, 2010

Ira M. Jacobson, MD, Chief of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and the lead investigator of the ADVANCE trial, reported breakthrough findings at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease in Boston on November 2, 2010. Adding a protease inhibitor — telaprevir — to the standard first-time treatment given to patients with hepatitis C resulted in a superior success rate. In fact, 75 percent of patients who received 12 weeks of therapy with telaprevir, in combination with the current standard drug treatment of peginterferon and ribavirin, achieved a viral cure in this Phase 3 study. This significant advance is one in a series on a steady course toward a cure in which Dr. Jacobson and Weill Cornell have played an active role for over 20 years.

Other interesting findings showed that the telaprevir combination therapy markedly improved success rates for African-Americans, and in those who had cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver. Telaprevir is now on the map as a potential new therapy that could dramatically improve the treatment of hepatitis C, a highly contagious blood-borne disease that can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer. It is pending FDA approval.

A leader in the treatment of hepatitis B and C, Dr. Jacobson was already actively investigating antiviral therapies during the late 1980s and 1990s. He has served as the Principal Investigator of numerous clinical trials over the years, including the original studies done with interferon, as well as subsequent studies utilizing combination therapies of a new formulation of interferon, known as pegylated interferon, with ribavirin. In 1999, Dr. Jacobson envisioned "establishing a major clinical and scientific center for the treatment and investigation of hepatitis C toward achieving a cure." This vision became a reality with the opening of The Center for the Study of Hepatitis C in 2000, which today receives patients from around the world. The Center is dedicated to a new era in the treatment of hepatitis C in which direct-acting antiviral drugs will play a central role. The Center also features a translational research program, directed by Dr. Andrew Talal, central to which there is a database and a large repository of patient-derived samples. In addition, the Center represents a collaboration between Weill Cornell Medical College, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and The Rockefeller University, where Dr. Charles Rice, Adjunct Professor at Weill Cornell, directs one of the world's leading scientific laboratories dedicated to the study of the hepatitis C virus.

Dr. Jacobson, Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Vincent Astor Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine, Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Attending Physician, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell Campus, is a world-renowned expert in hepatology and liver disease. Dr. Jacboson graduated summa cum laude from Yale University and received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Jacobson completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where he received his Internal Medicine Board Certification. He then completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and received his Gastroenterology Board Certification the following year.


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