title: Entecavir: a review of its use in chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: Entecavir (Baraclude) is a novel nucleoside analogue of 2'-deoxyguanosine whose intracellular triphosphate form inhibits replication of the hepatitis B virus (HBV). In large, randomised, double-blind, phase III clinical trials in patients with chronic HBV infection, oral entecavir 0.5 or 1.0mg once daily for up to 96 weeks was superior to lamivudine 100 mg/day in improving hepatic histology, normalising aminotransferase levels and suppressing viraemia to levels undetectable by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay in nucleoside-naive hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative (precore or core promoter mutants) and/or HBeAg-positive patients, and in lamivudine-refractory (persistent viraemia during lamivudine therapy) HBeAg-positive patients. In addition, the tolerability profile of entecavir was generally similar to that of lamivudine. Thus, entecavir is a primary option in the treatment of chronic HBV infection in both nucleoside-naive and lamivudine-refractory patients.
authors.affiliation: Adis International Limited, Mairangi Bay, Auckland, New Zealand. demail@adis.co.nz
authors.forename: Dean M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Lesley J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Greg L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Plosker
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002648:Child; D006147:Guanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006207:Half-Life; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: C413685:entecavir; D006147:Guanine