Patient Ms. Zhang, 30 years old, married for two years, has been taking oral antiviral medication since she was diagnosed with hepatitis B during her physical examination last year. This year, she is already 30 years old and wants to have a child but does not dare to stop the medication easily. She believes that there is no other way but to take the medication for the rest of her life. In fact, there are many patients like Ms. Zhang who believe that they need to take medication for life. They do not know that by choosing the right medication and treatment, it is possible to stop taking medication and not relapse, and even to achieve a “clinical cure” and live a normal life. Chronic hepatitis B is an immune-related disease. It is an immune deficiency that causes the virus to persist in the body. Currently, there are two major classes of drugs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B – oral antiviral drugs (nucleoside or nucleotide analogues) and interferon drugs, both of which are the first-line drugs recommended by the Chinese Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B. This explains why the virus is undetectable after oral antiviral therapy, and even the e antigen serological conversion, and the possibility of relapse after discontinuation of the drug. The interferon drugs, on the other hand, can directly inhibit viral replication, and on the other hand, they have immunomodulatory effects, which can help stimulate the body’s immunity and achieve a lasting immune control state, so that the drug can be discontinued without relapse, and is even expected to achieve a “clinical cure”. What are the criteria for drug discontinuation? The latest edition of the 2012 European Guidelines for the Management of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection emphasizes that the goal of satisfactory treatment is sustained e antigen seroconversion “after discontinuation”. Sustained efficacy “after discontinuation” is the key to the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. How to achieve drug discontinuation without relapse as soon as possible within a limited course of treatment? Oral antivirals have played an important role in helping patients with chronic hepatitis B maintain virologic remission over the past decade or so. However, because oral antivirals do not have immunomodulatory effects, they need to be taken for a long time and are prone to relapse after discontinuation, whereas long-acting interferons can help patients with chronic hepatitis B to achieve relapse-free discontinuation within 1 to 2 years because of their dual mechanisms of viral suppression and immunomodulatory effects. The 2012 update of the European Guidelines clearly recommends that for patients with “major triplets”, the best treatment option to achieve e antigen seroconversion is to receive long-acting interferon therapy, while for patients with “minor triplets”, a limited course of therapy is recommended to achieve durable response after discontinuation. Long-acting interferon therapy is also recommended for patients with “minor triplets” to achieve a durable response after discontinuation of a limited course of therapy. Therefore, for patients who need to stop treatment in the short term, they can actively communicate with their doctors and evaluate their own efficacy, and choose the treatment that is suitable for them under the guidance of their doctors. Is there a better treatment option to help achieve drug discontinuation without relapse? A clinical trial confirmed that patients treated with oral antivirals who were switched to long-acting interferon had a nearly two-fold increase in the chance of serological conversion to e antigen, a 9% chance of achieving surface antigen clearance (clinical cure), and a 25% chance of clinical cure in patients with a lower level of surface antigen. Thus the addition (switching) of long-acting interferon can help take the efficacy to the next level without reducing the efficacy of the original oral antivirals. Patients treated with oral antivirals are advised to have their surface antigen levels tested regularly to take advantage of treatment opportunities in a timely manner!