Encouraging data from a new study found that antiretroviral drug, tenofovir, prevented serious COVID-19 illness amongst people living with chronic Hepatitis B.
A study conducted in Spain found that antiretrovira drug tenofovir reduced the severity of COVID-19 in patients with chronic Hepatitis B.
Beatriz Mateos Muñoz, PhD Specialist in Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Hospital Universitario Ramón in Spain, said the study analysed data from 4736 patients from 28 Spanish hospitals.
Of the 117 COVID-19 positive patients who were identified, 67 were taking tenofovir and 50 were on entecavir, an antiviral drug in the treatment of hepatitis B virus infection. Muñoz said the incidence of COVID-19 in patients on tenofovir or entecavir were similar, but that patients on entecavir “more often had severe COVID-19, required ICU, ventilatory support, had longer hospitalization or died”.
The study found that tenofovir seemed to offer some protection in patients with chronic hepatitis B infected by COVID-19.
“In multivariate logistic regression adjusted by age, sex, obesity, comorbidities and fibrosis stage, tenofovir reduced by 6-fold the risk of severe COVID-19. Patients with chronic hepatitis B on tenofovir have a lower risk of severe COVID-19 infection than those on entecavir.”
This is an excerpt from the article “Leading Researchers Highlight the Impact of COVID-19 on Global Liver Disease” on Health Policy Watch. Read more here.