The Korean Association for the Study of the Liver has recommended Gilead’s Vemlidy as a first-line treatment for chronic hepatitis B in its revised annual guideline.

The new guideline recommends an oral antiviral therapy alone or peginterferon alfa therapy that has a high genetic barrier of resistance expression as a treatment option for patients with chronic hepatitis B infection as a first-line treatment.

The association selected Vemlidy, which has one of the highest genetic barriers of resistance expression among oral antiviral drugs, as one of the first-line therapies.

Also, the guideline added that it is necessary to change the treatment policy for patients with abnormal renal function or bone metabolism. The hepatitis B treatment itself may affect the renal function and bone density, so it is necessary to select the appropriate drug, Gilead said.

The drug has demonstrated inferior antiviral efficacy, improved renal and bone safety, and high resistance barriers compared to Viread at the end of 96 weeks of a large-scale phase 3 clinical trial.

Therefore, the new guideline also recommended the drug as a first-line treatment for patients with underlying renal failure or bone disease or risk factors as well as a recommendation to change treatments for patients who show or are at risk for renal dysfunction or bone mineral density, with Vemlidy.

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