title: Adefovir serum levels do not differ between responders and nonresponders.
abstract: Primary or secondary failure of adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) therapy of chronic hepatitis B is not infrequent. The reasons for suboptimal responses are not well defined. In HIV and hepatitis C virus infection, failure of antiviral drug therapy has been linked with low blood drug levels. We have studied 20 well-defined patients with chronic hepatitis B who were treated with ADV for drug and virus kinetics. Importantly, neither Cmax levels (mean 26 ng/mL, range 14-59 ng/mL) nor the time to maximal drug levels (mean 4 h, range 2-8 h) differed between patients showing a complete virological response to adefovir (n = 10), patients with secondary treatment failure (n = 7) and patients with suboptimal primary response (hepatitis B virus-DNA >10,000 IU/mL after 6 months of treatment; n = 3). Thus, adefovir treatment failure is unlikely to be due to an inability to mount sufficient drug levels in the blood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany Rega Institute for Medical Research, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Deterding
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Naesens
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buti
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kirschner
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guerrero
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reijnders
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neyts
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zoulim
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wedemeyer
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000097:blood* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063065:Organophosphonates / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D063065:Organophosphonates; C053001:adefovir; D000225:Adenine