Albinterferon (alb-IFN, trade name Albuferon) is a
recombinant fusion protein drug
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
consisting of
interferon alpha (IFN-α) linked to human
albumin.
Conjugation to human albumin prolongs the half-life of the IFN-α to about 6 days, allowing to dose it every two to four weeks.
The drug was under investigation as an alternative to
pegylated IFN-α-2a for the treatment of
hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...
. In response to an FDA ruling,
Novartis and
Human Genome Sciences announced on October 5, 2010 that they will cease development of the drug.
A French expert in hepatitis treatment, Dr. Yves Benhamou, member of the steering committee for a clinical trial of the drug was detained on criminal fraud charges by the F.B.I. agents on 11-01-2010 as he attended a conference in Boston because he allegedly tipped off a hedge fund manager about setbacks in the clinical trials (two participants in the trial had developed lung disease and one of them died); he had a consulting relationship with a manager of the hedge fund. The manager sold his entire stake in Human Genome Sciences before it announced the setbacks in Jan. 2008 and avoided $30 million in losses.
References
Hepatitis C
Cytokines
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