In patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B, peginterferon alfa-2a offers superior efficacy over lamivudine, on the basis of HBeAg seroconversion, HBV DNA suppression, and HBsAg seroconversion.

T he goal of therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B is the prevention of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related mortality. 1 However, it is difficult to assess these outcomes during short-term clinical trials because of the prolonged natural history of chronic hepatitis B. Surrogate endpoints are used for assessing the efficacy of anti-HBV drugs. Reduction in hepatitis B virus deoxyribonucleic acid (HBV DNA) is an excellent measure of antiviral efficacy. However, a decrease in HBV DNA Abbreviations: HBeAg, hepatitis B e antigen; HBV, hepatitis B virus; NPV, negative predictive value. From the

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