Treatment of chronic hepatitis B: focus on telbivudine

Chronic hepatitis B is a worldwide health problem. Research interests have focused on the development of potent and safe antiviral agents with low resistance rates. Among these, telbivudine is an oral nucleoside analogue with specific activity against hepatitis B virus DNA polymerase. Various prospective, randomized clinical trials have demonstrated the potent efficacy of telbivudine in suppressing viral replication and achieving hepatitis B e antigen seroconversion. Telbivudine was also proved to be superior to lamivudine and adefovir dipivoxil. This article provides an overview of the pharmacokinetics, clinical efficacies, resistance profile and safety of telbivudine. A comparison of telbivudine with other oral antiviral agents is also highlighted.