The Long Game: A Functional Cure Is Possible with Nucleoside Analogues and the Tincture of Time

Chronic hepatitis B is still prevalent globally. Many patients are treated for many years with nucleos(t)ide analogues to prevent the virus from actively replicating. However, although it typically requires consecutive treatment for more than 10 years, patients can achieve a functional cure from thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Livers 2023-09, Vol.3 (3), p.325-330
Main Authors: Noverati, Nicholas, Yan, Vivian, Jun, Jay W., Halegoua-DeMarzio, Dina, Hann, Hie-Won
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian Americans
chronic hepatitis B
Drug dosages
Families & family life
functional cure
Hepatitis B
host response
Infections
Liver cancer
Liver cirrhosis
Patients
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Summary:Chronic hepatitis B is still prevalent globally. Many patients are treated for many years with nucleos(t)ide analogues to prevent the virus from actively replicating. However, although it typically requires consecutive treatment for more than 10 years, patients can achieve a functional cure from this virus. This case series presents details of functional cures in patients who received varying nucleos(t)ide therapies for an average of 15.3 years before losses of hepatitis B surface antigen and viral load were observed. It is imperative to understand that abbreviating therapy once a functional cure is achieved may be a possibility in treating patients in order to limit the associated costs and side effects of an otherwise lifelong therapy until other cure drugs are approved.
ISSN:2673-4389
2673-4389
DOI:10.3390/livers3030024