A combination of two anti-cancer drugs has raised hopes of a cure for at least 60,000 chronic hepatitis B carriers in Hong Kong.
Researchers say the treatment can eliminate the virus from the liver, ending the need for lifelong treatment.
The drugs, lamivudine and interferon, have been used in tandem by Chinese University doctors since 2000. A study of 100 patients has found the therapy is 10 times as good in suppressing the virus and twice as effective in stopping liver inflammation as lamivudine alone.
'In our study, we have proved that this combination therapy is more effective,' said Joseph Sung Jao-yiu, chairman of the university's department of medicine and therapeutics. 'The main reason is that it can actually reduce the virus inside the liver cells.'
Results of the research, believed to be the first major study comparing the two therapies in a Chinese population, were published in the international medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Hepatitis B, which is carried by 600,000 Hong Kong people, leads to liver cancer and cirrhosis in 40 per cent of cases. Of the 300 million carriers worldwide, 75 per cent are Chinese.
