• Flu-like symptoms (including fever, chills, muscle aches, joint pain, headaches)

• Tiredness

• Upset stomach (like nausea, taste changes, diarrhea)

• Blood sugar problems (may lead to diabetes)

• Skin problems (like rash, dry or itchy skin, redness and swelling at injection site)

• Hair loss (temporary)

• Trouble sleeping

• Risks to pregnancies

• Mental health problems (such as irritability, depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, trouble with drug addiction or overdose, thoughts about suicide, suicide attempts, suicide and thoughts about homicide)

• Blood problems (like a drop in blood cells leading to increased risk for infections, bleeding and/or heart or circulatory problems)

• Infections (which sometimes cause death)
Lung problems (like trouble breathing, pneumonia)

• Eye problems (like blurred vision, loss of vision)

• Autoimmune problems (such as psoriasis, thyroid problems)

• Heart problems (including chest pain and, rarely, a heart attack)

• Liver problems (rarely, liver function worsens). Patients with both the hepatitis C virus and HIV can have an increased chance of having liver failure during PEGASYS treatment. Change in a blood test that measures liver inflammation occurs more often in patients with hepatitis B. If you have a rise in this blood test you may need to be watched more closely with additional blood tests.

Who should not take PEGASYS and COPEGUS?

Do not take PEGASYS alone or with COPEGUS if:

• You are pregnant or your partner is pregnant

• You or your partner plans to get pregnant during therapy or within 6 months after treatment ends

• You are breastfeeding

• You have hepatitis caused by your immune system (autoimmune hepatitis)

• You have unstable or severe liver disease before or during treatment

• You are allergic to alpha interferons or any of the ingredients in PEGASYS and COPEGUS

• You have abnormal red blood cells (caused by conditions like sickle-cell anemia or thalassemia major)