— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
Current medical guidelines recommend that HBV-infected patients
receive costly, lifelong hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) along with
antiviral drugs to ward off liver-damaging hepatitis B reinfection
after their liver transplant.
However, a new study published in the March 2015 issue of the journal Transplant Proceedings
suggests that only two doses of costly HBIG, made up of hepatitis B
antibodies, are needed to protect patients against hepatitis B
reinfection–as long as they are receiving an effective antiviral
treatment.
The cost savings derived from reduced HBIG
treatment in just the first year was $178,100 per patient when compared
with Food and Drug Administration-approved HBIG dosing.
In the two-year study, researchers followed 13
transplant patients, 10 of whom received either entecavir (Baraclude) or
tenofovir plus only two doses of HBIG at the time of surgery.
There was one recurrence of HBV infection, but
all patients fared well, and the one-year patient survival rate was
84.6% with a substantial cost savings.
Source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25769595
http://www.hbvadvocate.org/news/HBJ12.4.htm
Labels: antivirals, hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG), post-transplant treatment
