Section Review Anti-infectives: Recent advances in anti-hepatitis B virus agents

In recent years, deaths related to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the closely associated hepatocarcinoma, greatly outweigh those occuring as a result of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, a fact that may hold true for the next five to ten years. With a similar route of infection, HBV and HIV may co-spread and prove difficult to confine to a specific group of people. Many potent anti-HBV agents have also been found to be very effective against HIV, such as 3TC ((-)SddC), (-)FSddC, D4T and ddl, indicating that there might be subtle similarities between these two distinct classes of viruses. Therefore, discovery of a potent anti-HBV agent could sometimes also mean discovery of a potential anti-HIV agent, or vice versa. This may be particularly true as more and more L-nucleosides are evaluated. In this review article we have covered most of the existing approaches, and aim to provide sufficient up-to-date information for interested scientists to further advance anti-HBV research.