— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
The antiviral telbivudine (Tyzeka), may not be as
potent as other hepatitis B antivirals, but it appears to have a unique
quality—it appears to “protect” the kidneys against damage usually
linked to antiviral treatment, according to an article in the December
issue of the Journal of Viral Hepatitis.
Some antivirals, including
adefovir (Hepsera), cause kidney damage, but in an unusual twist,
telbivudine appears to somehow protect kidneys.
To evaluate how much kidney
protection telbivudine confers, researchers monitored kidney (renal)
function in 831 hepatitis B patients who received a combination of
antivirals for 96 weeks, including:
- Telbivudine and adefovir
- Adefovir plus lamivudine
- Adefovir plus entecavir
- Adefovir alone
- and entecavir alone
Among the five treatment groups,
significant improvements in kidney function was observed in the
adefovir plus telbivudine and adefovir plus lamivudine groups over the
study period. Improvements were most significant in patients who began
telbivudine when their kidney function was not up to par.
“In conclusion, our results
suggest that the combination therapy of telbivudine and adefovir is
significantly associated with renoprotective effects in chronic
hepatitis B patients when compared with other adefovir-based
combination or single (antiviral) therapies,” the researchers wrote.
Labels: telbivudine
