1Medical College, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC
2Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China
3Kangnam St. Mary Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
4Foothills Provincial General Hospital, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
5Hospital Universitario Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6Department of Gastroenterology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
7Department of Hepatology and Liver Transplantation, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
8Department of Infectious Diseases and Hepatology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
9Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Cliniques St Luc, Brussels, Belgium
10University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI
11Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS), Research and Development, Wallingford, CT
12Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Research and Development, Princeton, NJ
*Address reprint requests to: 138 Sheng-Li Road, Tainan, 70428, Taiwan, Republic of China. Email:[email protected]; fax: +886-6-209-5233
Received 4 March 2009; Accepted 11 September 2009
Published online 4 January 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
Grant sponsor: Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Potential conflicts of interest: Ting-Tsung Chang: Research support from Bristol-Myers Squibb; Ching-Lung Lai: Research support and consultancy fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb. SeungKew Yoon: Nothing to disclose. Samuel S. Lee: Consultancy fees from Roche, Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Novartis. Speakers' bureau for Roche, Gilead, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Henrique Sergio M Coelho: Nothing to disclose. Flair Jose Carrilho: Research support from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Fred Poordad: Research support, speakers' bureau fees, and consultancy fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Waldemar Halota: Nothing to disclose. Yves Horsmans: Consultancy fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Naoky Tsai: Research support, speakers' bureau fees, and consultancy fees from Bristol-Myers Squibb. Hui Zhang: BMS employee. Daniel J. Tenney: BMS employee. Ricardo Tamez: BMS employee. Uchenna Iloeje: BMS employee.
In addition to the authors, the following investigators participated in the study: Asia/Pacific: Nurul Akbar, Marilyn Arguillas, You-Chen Chao, Su-Kiun Chin, Kwang-Hyub Han, Simon Huang, Ian Kronborg, Alice Lee, Jacob George, Sik-To Lai, Shou-Dong Lee, Yun-Fan Liaw, Chee Chian Lim, Gin-Ho Lo, Yiu Wing Luk, George Marinos, Ismail Merican, Rosmawati Mohamed, Eng Keat Ooi, Stuart Roberts, William Sievert, Jose Sollano, Chee Kiat Tan, Judy Lao-Tan, Tawesak Tanwandee, Shun-Sheng Wu, Felix Zano. Europe and Middle East: Edward Antuch, Yucel Batur, Anna Boron-Kaczmarska, Pavel Chalupa, Isabelle Colle, Andrzej Gladysz, Barbara Gocman, Zbigniew Gonciarz, Markus H. Heim, Vasily Isakov, Ran Tur-Kaspa, Sabahattin Kaymakoglu, Wieslaw Kryczka, Jan Kuydowicz, Yoav Lurie, Tomasz Mach, Francesco Mazzotta, Roma Modrzewska, Beat Muellhaupt, Assy Nimer, Court Pedersen, Vladimir Rafalsky, Maria Raptopoulou-Gigi, Daniel Shouval, Marian Sikora, Cihan Yurdaydin, Konstantin Zhdanov. USA and Canada: Frank H. Anderson, Thomas Boyer, Robert Brown, Robert G. Gish, Anna Lok, Gerald Minuk, Raymond Rubin, Eugene Schiff, Morris Sherman. Latin America: Antonio A. Barone, Fernando Bessone, Hugo Cheinquer, Laura E. Cisneros Garza, Luiz Guilherme Costa Lyra, Hugo Fainboim, Jorge Ferrandiz, Maria Lucia Ferraz, Fernando L. Goncales, Jr, Mario Pessoa, Marcelo Silva, Ruben Terg.
The sponsor designed the study in collaboration with expert hepatologists. The sponsor also collected the data, monitored study conduct, performed the statistical analyses, and coordinated writing of the article with all authors.
