NCIt definition : A synthetic thymidine nucleoside analogue with antiviral activity highly specific
for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Intracellularly, telbivudine is phosphorylated
to its active metabolite, telbivudine triphosphate. The dideoxy telbivudine triphosphate
competes with thymidine for incorporation into viral DNA, thereby causing DNA chain
termination and inhibiting the function of HBV DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase).
This results in the blockade of HBV DNA replication and viral propagation.;