Oral antivirals for chronic hepatitis B.

Four oral antiviral agents have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B: lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir, and telbivudine. This article reviews the durability of response, dose regimen, predictors of response, safety, and problems with resistance of these four agents and of promising agents currently in phase III clinical trials for the treatment of patients who have hepatitis B e antigen-positive and -negative chronic hepatitis B.