Emerging drugs for hepatitis B

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis B remains a treatment challenge despite the availability of new nucleoside analogs. This is due to the persistence of viral infection during therapy, which exposes the patient to the risk of developing antiviral drug resistance. Therefore, new polymerase inhibitors are needed to manage resistance to existing drugs and new trials of combination therapy are required to delay drug resistance. In the future, antiviral agents targeting other steps of the viral life cycle will be needed to achieve antiviral synergy and prevent antiviral drug resistance. Immune modulators are also expected to enhance antiviral response and to achieve sustained response. Discovery of new antiviral drugs and design of new treatment strategies are, therefore, needed to manage this disease, which is still the main cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide.

Keywords::

• chronic hepatitis
• hepatitis B
• nucleoside analogs
• polymerase inhibitors
• viral resistance

Acknowledgements

F Zoulim receives grants from INSERM and the European Community (VIRGIL Network of Excellence, grant LSHM-CT-2004-503359).