Entecavir Ineffective in Patients with Lamivudine and Adefovir Resistance

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Korean researchers assessed the performance of the antiviral entecavir in 55 patients who had already developed resistance to lamivudine and adefovir.

Ten of the patients had liver cirrhosis and 46 patients were HBeAg-positive with high viral loads. Initially most patients did well on entecavir, but within a few months entecavir lost its effectiveness and most patients developed resistance to the antiviral. Viral load “breakthrough” rates at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months of treatment were 0%, 15%, 45% and 73%, respectively, according to the report in the October issue of the Journal of Viral Hepatology.