Comparison of the National Genetics Institute (NGI) HCV Superquant and Roche COBAS Amplicor HCV Monitor, Version 2.0 Assays

Chronic Hepatitis C infection is currently recognized as an important health care problem. It is estimated that nearly 4 million Americans are infected, 15 to 20 percent of whom will eventually develop Cirrhosis. Current treatments for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) are limited to alfa-interferon alone or in combination therapy with Ribavirin. Quantitation of HCV RNA in patient samples has become a valuable tool in the evaluation of patients undergoing therapy and has been used as a measure of response to treatment. Three recent studies (Poynard, Davis, McHutchinson) investigating the effectiveness of alfa-interferon and Ribavirin therapy have used HCV RNA viral loads as a marker for treatment efficacy.