New Improved Hepatitis B Medicine to be Considered for PBS

As Australians with hepatitis C are being cured at unprecedented rates, there is promise of a better medicine for those living with chronic hepatitis B who need treatment.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) will, in March, consider for recommendation, a new medicine which promises the same efficacy as current drugs but with less toxic side effects.

The current medicine, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF), is effective in suppressing the hepatitis B virus but is also linked to bone density loss and renal dysfunction in some patients. This is due to the high level of tenofovir circulating in the body.

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