Long-term therapy for chronic hepatitis B: hepatitis B virus DNA suppression leading to cirrhosis reversal.

Since the licensing of the first treatment for chronic hepatitis B in the nucleoside/tide analog class almost 15 years ago, considerable progress has been made in improving drug efficacy and safety with highly potent nucleoside/tide analogs exhibiting a high barrier to resistance. Physicians are now able to treat patients safely for many years and to be able to see convincing improvements in histology, including regression of fibrosis and even reversal of cirrhosis. The robust data that have been generated help us build confidence that we can now offer patients with chronic hepatitis B long-term, disease-modifying therapy that can alter the natural course of disease and help prevent the morbidity and mortality associated with it.