| Bristol-Myers
Squibb announced on 29 March 2005 that the US FDA has approved
its oral guanine nucleoside analogue, entecavir (BARACLUDE),
for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection
in adults with evidence of active viral replication and
evidence of either persistent elevations in serum aminotransferases
or histologically active disease.
Bristol-Myers
Squibb expects the product to be available in the USA by
8 April 2005. In clinical trials, entecavir treatment resulted
in greater levels of suppression of HBV after 48 weeks of
therapy compared with lamivudine. Entecavir is awaiting
approval for HBV infection in the EU, where a filing was
submitted in October 2004.
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