Study Demonstrates Telbivudine's Superiority in Hepatitis B Treatment

Both newly diagnosed hepatitis B patients and those who have previously taken Adefovir, a widely prescribed treatment for the disease, will see improved viral suppression with Telbivudine, according to a new study presented at the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of Liver (APASL) meeting in Kyoto, Japan.

The data for Hong Kong was presented by Prof. Henry Chan, professor in Department of the Medicine and Therapeutics and director of the Centre for Liver Health at CUHK. It complements the other data presentations showing the benefits of Telbivudine over Lamivudine, the most widely prescribed treatment for hepatitis B. Research also proves that Telbivudine provides rapid and sustained hepatitis B virus (HBV) suppression in patients with the disease.

The finding comes from a study of 135 patients with hepatitis B who were treated with either Telbivudine or Adefovir for 24 weeks. At that point, both groups were tested for HBV in their blood; in the Adefovir group, only 22% reached a target reduction in HBV (1000 copies/mL) versus nearly half (49%) of the Telbivudine group. Of the 78% of Adefovir patients who did not reach target viral suppression at 24 weeks, those who switched to Telbivudine saw 10 times greater incremental HBV suppression versus those patients who remained on Adefovir for 52 weeks.