Details
Category: HIV Treatment
Published on Monday, 30 December 2013 00:00
Written by Liz Highleyman
10. Long-term Benefits of Hepatitis B Treatment
The top hepatitis B story for 2013 remains the same as for 2012 -- the growing body of evidence showing that long-term nucleoside/nucleotide antiviral therapy can reduce detrimental outcomes including cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver-related death.
At this year's AASLD Liver Meeting researchers reported that long-term treatment with entecavir (Baraclude) or tenofovir (Viread) can reduce -- but not eliminate -- the likelihood that people with chronic hepatitis B will develop hepatocellular carcinoma. Arelated report presented at the EASL International Liver Congress showed that long-term tenofovir begins to significantly lower the risk of liver cancer after about 5 years.
Other studies reported this year showed that antiretroviral therapy using drugs like tenofovir that are dually active against both HIV and HBV helps protect against hepatitis B infection, while tenofovir may also help prevent mother-to-child HBV transmission. Finally, a study presented at the EASL meeting showed that Truvada (tenofovir + emtricitabine) is more effective than tenofovir alone against immune-tolerant hepatitis B -- but it remains unclear whether such individuals need treatment.