— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
After an eight-year study, Chinese researchers
have concluded that entecavir is not a highly effective antiviral to
use in patients who have already developed drug resistance to
lamivudine (Epivir-HBV).
Researchers followed 32
lamivudine-resistant patients who were then treated with a 1 mg daily
pill of entecavir for eight years.
After eight years, the
percentage of patients with HBV DNA with less than 300 copies/mL finally
reached 62.5% (20/32), but improvement was slow.
However, there were frequent
incidents of "viral breakthrough," when patients had a resurgence in
viral load. After eight years, 28.1% (9/32) of patients had experienced
breakthroughs.
Over the study period, 10
patients lost the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and four patients
lost HBeAg, according to the report published in the Chinese journal of
hepatology (PMID: 24636288).
They concluded that HBV DNA
suppression from extended entecavir treatment was lackluster in this
group, and that the economic cost was high as were virological
breakthroughs.
Source: HBV Journal Review, April 2014
Labels: entecavir, lamivudine resistance
