Antiviral Therapy Followed by Peginterferon for HBeAg-Positive Patients

Seroconversion rates were higher after sequential therapy than after PEG-IFN monotherapy.

Investigators have demonstrated that, for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections, pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) alone is equally as effective as combination therapy with PEG-IFN plus an antiviral agent, such as lamivudine. The overall seroconversion rate in HB e antigen (HBeAg)-positive patients is 15% to 30% with lamivudine and 27% with PEG-IFN alone (Journal Watch Gastroenterology Aug 9 2005). In this industry-sponsored study, investigators evaluated the efficacy of sequential therapy — first using lamivudine to reduce HBV viral loads and then switching to PEG-IFN-α-2b.

The study involved 63 HBeAg-positive patients in India who had alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels between 1.2 and 10 times the upper limit of normal, …

Reviewing Author

Atif Zaman, MD, MPH

Antiviral Therapy Followed by Peginterferon for HBeAg-Positive Patients

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Reviewing Author