A University of Hong Kong professor hopes to see wider use of an anti-HIV drug to treat hepatitis B, which affects about 8percent of the population.Department of medicine chair professor Lai Ching-lung cited a 2008 overseas study that found Tenofovir, an antiretroviral drug, effectively suppresses the DNA level of the hepatitis B virus.
Prolonged suppression of the DNA has shown to lessen the risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer - complications that often arise from chronic hepatitis B infection.
Tenofovir is registered with the Hospital Authority, and each tablet costs HK$86.
Lai said another alternative is Entecavir, an antiviral drug, which costs HK$110 for each tablet. The study compared the virological response of patients who took Tenofovir with the commonly used drug Adefovir over a period of four years.
More than 80 percent of the 266 patients who took Tenofovir had their virus DNA level suppressed around the 48th week as compared to about 10 percent of patients who took Adefovir, Lai said.
Hepatitis B carrier Chan Ka- yu, 41, switched to Tenofovir earlier this month after taking Entecavir and Adefovir since last year.
Hepatitis B is 50 to 100 times more infectious than HIV, which can lead to AIDS, Lai added.
SERINAH HO
