Baraclude achieves efficacy despite interruption

US drug major Bristol-Myers Squibb says that data from a cohort of nucleoside-naive HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B patients who experienced recurrent levels of HBV in the blood after interruption of treatment with Baraclude (entecavir) achieved viral suppression and liver enzyme normalization when re-treated for 48 weeks with the drug. "This study showed that, when treated again with Baraclude for 48 weeks, patients achieved responses similar to those seen prior to treatment interruption, with safety results consistent with previously-reported experience," said Hakan Senturk, of Istanbul University, Turkey.

The data, which were presented at the 42nd annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Barcelona, Spain, show that 93% of patients who were re-treated with Baraclude had undetectable viral load (HBV DNA <300copies/mL) and 83% achieved liver enzyme normalization after 48 weeks of therapy.