Subsidies urged for hepatitis patients

The Hospital Authority has been urged to subsidise patients needing an expensive new drug which can effectively control deterioration in one-third of hepatitis B sufferers.

Pegylated interferon works on 32 per cent of sufferers, compared with 19 per cent for another widely used drug, lamivudine, according to a study of 814 patients by researchers from 15 countries, including a team from the University of Hong Kong.

One in 10 people in Hong Kong carry hepatitis B. They are 100 times more likely to develop liver cancer than non-carriers.

Liver specialist George Lau Ka-kit, associate professor of HKU's department of medicine and a member of the research team, said the new drug was important to patients in view of the high resistance to lamivudine. Thirty per cent of patients develop resistance to it within a year, and 80 per cent are resistant to it after five years.

Professor Lau said drug resistance occurs when patients fail to comply with doctors' instructions to take lamivudine, which they must use for life.

The condition of those taking pegylated interferon remains stable for at least 24 weeks after they complete the course of treatment.