The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted peginterferon alfa-2a (Pegasys®) for use within NHS Scotland in combination with ribavirin for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C in adult patients who have failed previous treatment with interferon alfa (pegylated or non-pegylated) alone or in combination with ribavirin.

The drug advice notes that non-responders to previous hepatitis C treatment (predominantly with virus genotype 1) achieved sustained viral responses of 8% and 15% following 48 weeks and 72 weeks of combination treatment, respectively.  Please see the link below for further details of the submission.