Entecavir, known as the brand name Baraclude, is a guanine analogue oral antiviral drug used in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B for patients with active viral replication, histological evidence of active disease, or persistent elevations in liver transaminases. Entecavir competes with the natural substrate deoxyguanosine triphosphate (dGTP), which functionally inhibits all three activities of HBV polymerase (reverse transcriptase). This inhibits base priming, reverse transcription from messenger RNA, and synthesis of the positive strand of BV DNA. Since less viral DNA is formed, less of this DNA is available in the nucleus to undergo transcription and translation, consequently, less viral proteins are formed. This reduces the formation of new viruses since there are fewer viral proteins.

Entecavir Pathway References