Thirty-six percent of patients receiving monotherapy and thirty-five percent receiving combination therapy had lost serum HBeAg at the end of the 26 week post-treatment follow-up period and there was no difference between treatment groups (P = 0.91). More patients on combination therapy initially seroconverted (44% of patients, compared with 29% on monotherapy; P = 0.01) at the end of treatment but relapsed during follow-up. Similar response patterns were seen when response was assessed by DNA suppression and change in ALT levels.