Drugs in Development for the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B

Currently available therapies for patients with chronic hepatitis B are safe, well tolerated, and highly effective in achieving improved outcomes reflecting potent viral suppression with low rates of antiviral resistance. For the majority of patients however, long-term treatment is necessary with significant cost implications and potential for complications. Current oral antiviral therapies are directed only at a single component of the hepatitis B lifecycle, while interferon therapy is effective only in a minority of patients. Efforts are underway to develop agents directed at novel targets derived from mechanisms of cellular entry, viral replication, or viral assembly leading to preclinical and clinical trials with impressive preliminary results. Additional development of agents directed at the host immune response offers the possibility of combination therapies with independent mechanisms of action that may pave the way for regimens of finite duration with long-lasting control of chronic hepatitis B infection.