New approaches to optimize treatment responses in chronic hepatitis B

Substantial advances have been made in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in the past decade. Currently, there are seven approved agents including two forms of interferon (conventional and pegylated), and five oral nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir, telbivudine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate). The availability of these multiple treatment options has led to expansion of treatment indications. However, the need for a long duration of treatment with some therapies, the high costs of HBV medications, the side effects associated with some treatments and the risks of drug resistance during long-term use of oral antiviral medications necessitate the careful assessment of the risk-benefit ratio prior to initiating treatment, and the evaluation of better strategies to optimize response once treatment is initiated. In this article, we review the current approaches to optimize treatment response to nucleoside/nucleotide analogue- and interferon-based therapies for chronic hepatitis B.