The Research Team Led by Prof. Eui-Kyung Lee of Pharmacy, Published the Results of Study on Cost Effectiveness of Antiviral Treatment in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B 

[Image 1] Professor Eui-Kyung Lee of Pharmacy, Ph. D. Hye-Rin Kim (first author)

Professor of Eui-Kyung Lee of Pharmacy (corresponding author) and Ph.D. Hye-Rin Kim (first author, currently work at Sahmyook University), Ph. D. Jae-Ah Park and Ph. D. Hye-Rim Kang (co-author) published the result of study on cost-effectiveness of antiviral treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis B in GUT (IF 19.819, No. 3 journal in its field), the most prestigious journal in the field of Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

The research team cooperated with the Prof. Young-Suk Lim’s research team at Asan Medical Center and they assessed the cost effectiveness between the immune tolerance phase and the active phase in starting antiviral treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients. As a result, the early initiation of treatment from the immune tolerance phase, which has been considered relatively stable than the active phase of hepatitis recommended in the current treatment guidelines, has been found to be cost-effective because it reduces in incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma that causes high medical expenses.

Professor Eui-Kyung Lee explained “As the research result was published at a time when there is a great interest in the treatment period of chronic hepatitis B at the clinical site, it is expected to be served as a good basis for clinical experts to choose when to treat drugs and set the insurance benefit standards.”

This study was supported by grants from the Korean National Health Clinical Research (NHCR) project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea.