pharmaceuticals Review Recent Advances in Hepatitis B Treatment Georgia-Myrto Prifti 1, Dimitrios Moianos 1 , Erofili Giannakopoulou 1, Vasiliki Pardali 1, John E. Tavis 2 and Grigoris Zoidis 1,* 1 Department of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece;
[email protected] (G.-M.P.);
[email protected] (D.M.);
[email protected] (E.G.);
[email protected] (V.P.) 2 Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +30-210-7274809 Abstract: Hepatitis B virus infection affects over 250 million chronic carriers, causing more than 800,000 deaths annually, although a safe and effective vaccine is available. Currently used antivi- ral agents, pegylated interferon and nucleos(t)ide analogues, have major drawbacks and fail to completely eradicate the virus from infected cells. Thus, achieving a “functional cure” of the in- fection remains a real challenge. Recent findings concerning the viral replication cycle have led to development of novel therapeutic approaches including viral entry inhibitors, epigenetic control of cccDNA, immune modulators, RNA interference techniques, ribonuclease H inhibitors, and capsid assembly modulators. Promising preclinical results have been obtained, and the leading molecules under development have entered clinical evaluation. This review summarizes the key steps of the HBV life cycle, examines the currently approved anti-HBV drugs, and analyzes novel HBV treatment regimens. Citation: Prifti, G.-M.; Moianos, D.; Keywords: hepatitis B; hepatitis B virus; HBV; antiviral agents; HBV inhibitors; cccDNA; HBV life Giannakopoulou, E.; Pardali, V.; Tavis, cycle; HBV treatment; nucleoside analogues; antiviral therapy J.E.; Zoidis, G.