CLINICAL-EXPERIENCE WITH FAMCICLOVIR AGAINST HEPATITIS-B VIRUS

Famciclovir (FCV, the oral form of penciclovir, PCV) is a potent antiv iral agent of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and is currently in phase III cl inical trials. In this review, we examine the outcome of FCV treatment in preventing recurrent HBV in patients post transplantation. Resista nce to FCV has now been documented in this setting, in which reduced s ensitivity to FCV was associated with mutations upstream from the cons erved 'YMDD' motif in the HBV polymerase gene. These mutations are in a region which has been designated as the B domain in RNA-dependent po lymerases. To understand these mutations we have developed a model of the catalytic regions of the HBV polymerase and located mutations sele cted during antiviral treatment on this model.