To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Long-Term Entecavir Represses Hepatitis B Virus in Group of Patients: Presented at AASLD URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/216CFA.htm Doctor's Guide November 7, 2007
By Maria Bishop BOSTON, MA -- November 7, 2007 -- Continuous treatment with entecavir for 4 years achieved sustained suppression of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the serum deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of nucleoside-naïve patients who are hepatitis B e antigen-positive (HBeAg+), researchers reported here at the 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD). Of the 108 HBeAg+ patients in this study who had measurements taken at week 192, 91% had undetectable HBV DNA (< 300 copies/mL), noted Steven-Huy B. Han, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Digestive Diseases, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School Of Medicine, and Director, Liver/Hepatitis Clinic, West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center Los Angeles, California, United States. Continuous treatment with entecavir also resulted in the maintenance of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) normalisation (86% at week 192 in the same cohort). Dr. Han led this long-term study, in which patients were treated with entecavir in a blinded trial (ETV-022) for 96 weeks, and then, after a gap in treatment of 35 days or less, were enrolled into study ETV-901 (combined entecavir 1 mg and lamivudine 100 mg/day). The ETV-901 protocol was subsequently changed to monotherapy only (entecavir 1 mg/daily). A total of 108 of 146 patients in the 4-Year cohort had HBV DNA measurements taken by polymerase chain reaction at Week 192. Of these, only 10 patients had HBV DNA copies greater than 300 copies/mL at week 192. One patient in this cohort developed resistance to entecavir. The safety profile was consistent with previously reported experience (ie, 90% of patients experienced an adverse event; 13% experienced a serious adverse event). Treatment during years 3 and 4 resulted in additional patients achieving ABeAg loss and seroconversion, Dr. Han noted. This trial was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb. [Presentation title: Four-Year Entecavir Treatment in Nucleoside-Naïve, HBeAg(+) Patients: Results From Studies ETV-022 and -901. Abstract 938] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.