Hepatitis B is a lifelong liver disease for most patients and the treatment must be suitable for long-term use. The goal of treatment for hepatitis B is to improve quality of life and survival, as well as preventing the disease from progressing to cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, liver cancer and death.1 This can be achieved by:
- Reducing the amount of the virus in the blood
- Keeping the level of the virus as low as possible over time
Research has shown that reducing the amount of the hepatitis B virus in the blood significantly decreases the risk of liver diseases like cirrhosis and/or liver cancer.
Make sure to talk to your doctor or healthcare provider about how your treatment plan is answering the following questions:2
| Is My Treatment Effective? | Can the virus re-emerge? | Is My Treatment Safe? |
| A potent drug is required to reduce the amount of virus in the blood and to maintain it as low as possible.2 | Antiviral treatment needs to offer a high genetic barrier to resistance, requiring multiple mutations of the virus before resistance occurs. This will ensure that the virus does not re-emerge.2 | Treatment should have a favourable safety profile and be well tolerated for patients over the long term.2 |
For additional questions for your doctor see the Questions to Ask section and the PATH B resource.