HD-03/ES: A promising herbal drug for HBV antiviral therapy

The present study was designed to study the genotypes associated with different groups of chronic liver disease and to see their response to HD-03/ES (an antiviral herbal molecule) on chronic HBV patients. A total of 51 patients of chronic liver disease were recruited in the study and were given HD-03/ES, two capsules twice daily for 6 months. Liver function tests were done every month after initiating treatment. Serum was analyzed for HBsAg, HBeAg and HBV DNA and quantitative estimation of HBV at baseline, 4 and 6 months after therapy. The genotype of all the cases was also determined by PCR-RFLP method. After 6 months of therapy with HD-03/ES, a significant reduction of ALT values from 71.2 ± 16.3 to 36.4 ± 6.8 and a significant HBeAg loss (27.4%) and HBV DNA loss (27.4%) was observed. Adverse effects were mild. Genotype D was found in 39 (76.5%) while genotype A was found in 12 (33.5%) cases, respectively. The mean reduction in viral load was observed from log 10 7.1 ± 1.8 copies/ml to log 10 4.4 ± 1.1 copies/ml. However, a sharp decline in viral load was observed in patients infected with genotype A (log 10 6.8 ± 2.5 to log 10 4.9 ± 1.8; P < 0.01) compared to genotype D (log 10 7.0 ± 2.6 to log 10 5.9 ± 3.5; P = 0.074). The study had shown that majority of the patients of chronic HBV related liver disease had genotype D. In additional, the molecule HD03/ES had a better therapeutic capability of lowering the HBV viral load in patients with genotype A, which needs to be validated in larger studies.