The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval for a new drug to treat the potentially life-threatening disease Chronic hepatitis B.
The drug, Baraclude, which should be available shortly, is an oral antiviral therapy specially designed to block the replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the body by interfering with the virus's ability to infect cells.
Thousands of people die each year from primary liver cancer and most of these are caused by chronic hepatitis B. In the United States, more than one million people have developed chronic hepatitis B infection and more than 5,000 Americans die from hepatitis B and hepatitis B-related liver complications each year.
Timothy Block, Ph.D., president,
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval for a new drug to treat the potentially life-threatening disease Chronic hepatitis B.
and professor,
liver cancer says that despite the alarming statistics, only a small proportion of diagnosed chronic
hepatitis B patients in the U.S. are currently receiving treatment for their disease and the new drug provides a new option for therapy.