AIDS Drug Also Fights Hepatitis B

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

AIDS Drug Also Fights Hepatitis B

Washington Post (12/21/95) P. A9

Researchers report in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that the recently approved AIDS drug 3TC appears to suppress the hepatitis B virus (HBV) in people with chronic infections. Currently, the only available treatment for hepatitis B is interferon, which can eliminate the virus in some 33 percent of patients but must be taken for several months and produces several unpleasant side effects. In this most recent study, Jules L. Dienstag of Massachusetts General Hospital and other scientists found that a three-month course of 3TC, which is also known as lamivudine or Epivir, can permanently eliminate HBV in about 20 percent of the patients and has few side effects. According to Jay Hoffnagle of the National Institutes of Health, the next will be to determine whether a combination of 3TC and interferon increase the possibility of curing hepatitis B. Related Stories: New York Times (12/21) P. A26; Wall Street Journal (12/21) P. B9; Washington Times (12/21) P. A5

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