Researchers from the Republic of Korea have found that the efficacy
of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) monotherapy is comparable to that
of TDF plus entecavir in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with
genotypic resistance to entecavir.
The primary endpoint of
virological response, defined as serum levels of hepatitis B virus (HBV)
DNA of less than 15 IU/mL at week 48, was achieved by 71.1% of 45 CHB
patients harbouring at least one entecavir-resistance mutation who were
randomly assigned to receive open-label TDF alone. This did not differ
significantly from the 73.3% response rate in the 45 patients treated
with TDF plus entecavir.
The researchers point out, however, that
the increase in the proportion of patients exhibiting a response was
“blunted” from week 24 to 48, raising concerns regarding the effect of
prolonging therapy on the rate of virological response.
Read more...Labels: entecavir resistance, tenofovir monotherapy