Chalmers Conferences, 9th European Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Biology

Modelling ribavirin mode of action in a specifically designed clinical trial in patients with hepatitis C
Eva Herrmann

Last modified: 2014-06-09

Abstract


In this presentation, we will focus on methodological aspects of viral kinetic modeling in a specific
clinical trial in patients chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1. The Rikin-study
was already designed to simplify mathematical modeling of viral kinetics in order to analyze the
mechanisms of action of ribavirin as anti-HCV drug.
It was a randomized and blinded trial with ribavirin or placebo or pegylated interferon in a 6 weeks prephase
and a standard combination of ribavirin and pegylated interferon as combination treatment
thereafter. This special configuration allows to assess inter- and intra-individual differences between the
different mono- and combination treatments.
In order to reveal the mechanisms of action of ribavirin, models describing different types of action, e.g.,
directly on viral production or by rendering part of the newly produced virus as non-infective, were
evaluated and compared. All our models base on appropriate ordinary differential equation systems.
Furthermore, the study analyzed immunological parameters and correlations with viral kinetic
parameters were assessed.