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GlaxoSmithKline Launches HepatitisBHelp.com




       New Web site a Hepatitis B Resource for Healthcare Professionals  and the Public

    RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced the launch of HepatitisBHelp.com (URL: http://www.hepatitisbhelp.com ), a new Web site that will serve as an important resource for US-based healthcare professionals and patients living with chronic hepatitis B.  The site will also provide information about treatment using GSK's chronic hepatitis B drug, EPIVIR-HBV(R) (lamivudine).

    The site contains easy to read hepatitis B educational materials in English and several Asian languages, links to national events for healthcare providers, selected research on EPIVIR-HBV, and links to other hepatitis B education sites.

    EPIVIR-HBV is approved in the US for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B
associated with viral replication and active liver inflammation in adults and children ages 2 to 17 years.  The recommended oral dose of EPIVIR-HBV for treatment of chronic hepatitis B in adults is 100mg once daily.  The safety and effectiveness of treatment beyond one year and long-term treatment benefits have not been established.  The optimal duration of treatment is not known.  EPIVIR-HBV is not a cure for hepatitis B and has not been shown to reduce the risk of transmission of HBV to others.

    Lactic acidosis and severe hepatomegaly with steatosis, including fatal cases have been reported with the use of nucleoside analogues alone or in combination, including lamivudine and other antiretrovirals.

    Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) counseling and testing should be offered to all patients before beginning EPIVIR-HBV and periodically during treatment, because EPIVIR-HBV Tablets and Oral Solution contain a lower dose of the same active ingredient (lamivudine) as EPIVIR(R) Tablets and Oral Solution used to treat HIV infection.  If treatment with EPIVIR-HBV is prescribed for chronic hepatitis B for a patient with unrecognized or untreated HIV infection, rapid emergence of HIV resistance is likely because of subtherapeutic dose and inappropriate monotherapy.

    Patients taking EPIVIR-HBV should be monitored by a physician. Deterioration of liver disease has been reported in some patients when treatment with EPIVIR-HBV was discontinued.  Emergence of resistance hepatitis B virus and worsening of disease can occur during treatment.

    Please visit http://www.hepatitisbhelp.com for more details, including the
complete Prescribing Information for EPIVIR-HBV.

    Facts About Hepatitis B

    The virus is transmitted through direct contact with blood and other bodily fluids.  The hepatitis B virus (HBV) targets the liver and can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver (also known as scarring), liver failure, liver cancer and death.  While uncommon in the general United States population (only 0.3% of the general population has chronic HBV and liver cancer does not rank among the ten most common cancers), the statistics for the Asian/Pacific Islander (API) community are vastly different.  One in ten APIs in the US are infected with hepatitis B, one in four of whom, if left
untreated and unmonitored, will die from liver cancer, failure, and/or cirrhosis of the liver, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Asian Am Pac Isl J Health, 2001;9:141-152.

    About GSK

    GlaxoSmithKline -- is one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies.  Visit GlaxoSmithKline at http://www.gsk.com or http://www.hepatitisbhelp.com .



SOURCE GlaxoSmithKline
Web Site: http://www.gsk.com http://www.hepatitisbhelp.com