Besifovir versus entecavir in Asian patients with chronic hepatitis B

Despite the success of hepatitis B virus vaccination in preventing new infection in endemic areas, chronic hepatitis B still poses a heavy burden globally. There are approximately 350 million carriers in the world, with an estimated 60 000 persons dying annually of hepatitis B-related cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In a study recent published in Gut, Professor Man-Fung Yuen, Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, and colleagues, report the results of viral suppression and safety of two doses of besifovir, with entecavir as a comparator in treatment-naive subjects for 48 weeks. He talks to Mairi McLean about the findings. Read the full paper: Phase IIb multicentred randomised trial of besifovir (LB80380) versus entecavir in Asian patients with chronic hepatitis B http://gut.bmj.com/content/63/6/996.full