According to a new study, maintenance therapy which uses low-dose of peginterferon seems ineffective in patients with chronic hepatitis C who didn’t respond to earlier round of treatment.

The researchers also found an astounding health decline in some patients during the course of the study.

“The therapy is used in the US as well as in many other countries, as a large number of doctors have adopted this method of treatment. But still its usability has not been proven and the results of our study show that it must be stopped,” says Dr. Adrian Di Bisceglie, the lead author of the study.

Almost 50% patients with chronic hepatitis C recover after undergoing preliminary peginterferon and ribavirn antiviral therapy and it lasts six to eleven months. In non-respondent patients improvement has been seen, but the virus doesn’t seem to be eliminated.