From Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles (F.P.); Gastroenterology-Hepatology-Certified Endoscopy Centers, Alexandria, VA (J.M.); Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis (B.R.B.); Azienda Ospedaliera Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico, Milan (S.B.); Medical School of Hannover, Hannover, Germany (M.P.M.); Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore (M.S.S.); Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York (I.M.J.); University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (K.R.R.); Inova Fairfax Hospital and the Betty and Guy Beatty Center for Integrated Research, Falls Church, VA (Z.D.G.); Merck, Whitehouse Station, NJ (N.B., M.J.D., V.S., C.A.B., J.K.A.); and INSERM Unité 954, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nancy, Université Henri Poincaré-Nancy 1, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France (J.P.B.). Address reprint requests to: Dr. Poordad at Suite 1060W, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8635 West Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90048, or at [email protected].
*Additional SPRINT-2 (Serine Protease Inhibitor Therapy 2) investigators are listed in the Supplementary Appendix, available at NEJM.org.
The opinions expressed in this report represent the consensus of the coauthors and do not necessarily reflect the formal position of Merck or the other institutions listed as authors' affiliations.
Supported by Schering-Plough (now Merck).
Dr. Poordad reports receiving consulting fees from Merck, Vertex, Abbott, Gilead, Achillion, Genentech, and Tibotec; grant support from Merck; and payment for development of educational presentations from Merck. Dr. McCone reports receiving lecture fees and speaker's fees from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck). Dr. Bacon reports receiving consulting fees from Gilead, Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, Valeant, Vertex, and Human Genome Sciences; grant support from Roche, Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, Valeant, Vertex, Human Genome Sciences, Wyeth, and Romark Laboratories; and lecture or speaker's fees from Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, Gilead, and Schering-Plough (now part of Merck); as well as having served on data and safety monitoring boards for Novartis, Isis, Vertex, and Gilead. Dr. Manns reports receiving consulting fees from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, Valeant, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Idenix, Tibotec, Vertex, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck; grant support from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Roche, Gilead, Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Bristol-Myers Squibb; and payment for development of educational presentations from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, and Gilead. Dr. Sulkowski reports receiving consulting fees from Vertex, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Pharmasset, Abbott, Tibotec, Roche, and Gilead; fees for expert testimony from Abbott; and grant support from Vertex, Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Tibotic, Gilead, Pharmasset, Zymogenetics, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Orasure, Achillion, and Roche. Dr. Jacobson reports receiving consulting fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Gilead, Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Pfizer, Vertex, GlobeImmune, Human Genome Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pharmasset, Zymogenetics, Tibotec, Abbott, Roche-Genentech, Anadys, Sanofi-Aventis, Achillion, GlaxoSmithKline, and Biolex; grant support from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Tibotec, Roche-Genentech, Pharmasset, Anadys, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Gilead, Vertex, GlobeImmune, Human Genome Sciences, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Zymogenetics; lecture or speaker's fees from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Roche-Genentech; and payment for development of educational presentations from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, and Vertex. Dr. Reddy reports receiving consulting fees from Roche, Merck, Salix, Vertex, Tibotec, and Human Genome Sciences; grant support from Roche, Vertex, Tibotec, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Gilead; and payment for development of educational presentations from ViralEd. Dr. Goodman reports receiving consulting fees from Merck and Gilead Sciences; grant support from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, GlobeImmune, Gilead Sciences; and lecture or speaker's fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Ms. Boparai and Drs. DiNubile, Sniukiene, Brass, and Albrecht report being employees of Merck and owning stock or stock options in the company. Dr. Bronowicki reports receiving fees for board membership from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Roche, Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen, and Bayer; consulting fees from Merck, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis; lecture or speaker's fees from Schering-Plough (now part of Merck), Roche, Bayer and Bristol-Myers Squibb; and reimbursement for travel expenses from Roche. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at NEJM.org.
We thank all the patients, health care providers, and investigators involved in the study; Dr. Lisa Pedicone (of Merck) for her helpful advice and invaluable support; and Joann DiLullo, Bernard Akyena, Jill Williams, and Karyn Davis (of Merck) for their technical assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.
