clinical and laboratory study of DDB in treatment of chronic hepatitis C [2] comparative studies

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of Dimethyl Dimethoxy Biphenyl Dicarboxylate [DDB], a Chinese drug, in treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C infection [HCV]. This is the second study in this field, in the first one, which was a pilot or preliminary study in Egypt, it was con-eluded that DDB is beneficial in treatment of patients with HCV because it improves dramatically the main symptoms and induces sustained biochemical improvement without undesirable side effects. In this study 100 patients with HCV were selected and treated with DDB. Follow up of those patients for 12 months revealed sustained clinical improvement, normalization of serum ALT, statistically significant decrease in serum AST when compared with the control group and serum HCV RNA, detected by polymerase chain reaction [PCR], became negative in 10.66% of cases [The first part of this study was presented in Ain Shams Clinical and Scientific Society Symposium Chronic Hepatitis up to date, April 1999]