Randomised clinical trial: pre-dosing with taribavirin before starting pegylated interferon vs. standard combination regimen in treatment-naïve patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1.

"Declaration of personal interests : Melissa Palmer, MD has served as a speaker with Vertex, Merck and Genentech, has been a consultant with Kadmon, and has received research funding from Kadmon, Valeant, Gilead and Bristol Myers Squibb. Raymond Rubin currently is employed by Vertex pharmaceuticals. Vinod Rustgi has received clinical trials grants from Vertex, Gilead, BMS, Genentech, Merck, Novartis, Abbott, Boehringer-Ingelheim, is a consultant for Merck and Vertex, is on the advisory board of Merck and Tibotec and is on the speakers bureau of Merck, Vertex, Genentech, and Gilead. Declaration of funding interests : This study was funded in part by grants from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Aliso Viejo, CA, USA and Kadmon Corporation New York, NY, USA. Initial data analyses were undertaken by David Li, who was an employee of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Aliso Viejo, CA, USA."

"Written informed consent was obtained from all patients prior to enrolment in this study. This trial was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov identifier number NCT00305383."