Figure 1.

 Study design and study flow chart. All patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) genotype 4 were screened prior to enrolment. A total of 287 subjects fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were randomly assigned to the three treatment schedules and received at least one dose of the study medication (see patients and methods). Eight patients were excluded after receiving one or two doses because they refused to continue therapy or did not come for treatment. PEG-IFN-α-2b, peginterferon alpha-2b.