Chronic Hepatitis B and Adenine Arabinoside Monophosphate (Ara-AMP)

Excerpt

To the editor: The study by Garcia and colleagues (1) of adenine arabinoside monophosphate (Ara-AMP) with or without leukocyte interferon compared with placebo as antiviral therapy for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a valuable contribution. Their study is consistent with others in showing Ara-AMP to be inadequate therapy for many HBV-infected patients, particularly homosexual men. Nevertheless, several points deserve comment.

Garcia and colleagues used considerably more Ara-AMP (three 1-month courses alternating with a month of placebo or interferon) than did other investigators who showed efficacy with a 4-week course (2, 3). Besides increasing the toxicity of Ara-AMP treatment,