Clevudine: a promising therapy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B.

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, affecting approximately 350 million people worldwide, is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In the past 10 years, hepatitis B therapy research has led to a multitude of available antiviral therapies: IFN-alpha, pegylated IFN-alpha(2a), lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir, telbivudine and tenofovir. To further improve reductions in viral load and resistance profiles, development of new HBV therapeutic strategies has been an important focus. One such therapy is clevudine, an analogue of the beta-L configuration. Clevudine is already licensed in Korea for anti-HBV therapy (Bukwang Pharmaceuticals, Seoul, Korea). Unique to clevudine is its ability to maintain antiviral activity following discontinuation of therapy. Typically, hepatitis B treatment requires continuous therapy to prevent reactivation. Sustained response is uncommon except in hepatitis B antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients who developed HBeAg seroconversion. This article reviews chronic HBV and its therapy options. Specifically, it describes clevudine's potent and sustained antiviral activity as observed in vitro and in vivo.

• Authors: Tarik Asselah, Olivier Lada, Rami Moucari, Patrick Marcellin
• Journal: Expert opinion on investigational drugs (Expert Opin Investig Drugs) Vol. 17 Issue 12 Pg. 1963-74 (Dec 2008) ISSN: 1744-7658 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 19012511 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Antiviral Agents
• Hepatitis B Vaccines
• Nucleosides
• Arabinofuranosyluracil
• clevudine

Topics

• Animals
• Antiviral Agents (adverse effects, therapeutic use)
• Arabinofuranosyluracil (adverse effects, analogs & derivatives, therapeutic use)
• Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
• Hepatitis B Vaccines (immunology)
• Hepatitis B, Chronic (drug therapy, epidemiology, immunology, prevention & control)
• Humans
• Nucleosides (genetics)