Novartis chronic hepatitis B treatment approved

Novartis has announced that Sebivo (telbivudine) has been granted approval by the European Commission as a first-line treatment for chronic hepatitis B.

This approval follows the publication of trial data showing the compound to have benefits over the widely-prescribed treatment lamivudine, with the results indicating that Sebivo gives patients rapid viral suppression within six months of the onset of treatment.

Sebvio is being co-promoted by Novartis Pharma and Idenix, with the companies also currently developing a second hepatitis B treatment – valtorcitabine and a hepatitis C treatment – valopicitabine.

Thierry Poynard, professor of medicine and head of the department of hepato-gatroenterology at Hopital Pitie-Salpetriere, said: “There is no cure for chronic hepatitis B, but high viral load increases the risk of serious complications.

“To reduce this risk, the goal of therapy is therefore to suppress the hepatitis B virus as much as possible and to maintain that decrease over time.”

He added that the Globe study upon which approval of Sebivo was based showed that telbivudine is more effective in its suppression of the hepatitis B virus than lamivudine.

Last week, Novartis announced the publication of positive trial results showing the efficacy of Diovan (valsartan) as an adjunctive treatment to prevent the incidence of stroke and cardiovascular events.