Hi all,
I’ve never taken tenofovir, but as a HBV researcher working on drug discovery I can provide some context about the drug. It is a nucleotide analog drug that stops HBV DNA replication. It was originally developed for HIV, but it works exceptionally well against HBV because both HIV and HBV replicate by a similar biochemical mechanism (reverse transcription). Tenofovir is one of the 2 most commonly used drugs vs. HBV (the other is Entecavir, another reverse transcription inhibitor). More info about it can be found at Tenofovir disoproxil - Wikipedia. Tenofovir is sold in 2 forms, TDF (that is what is discussed in the linked article) and TAF. They work the same way, but they have different “prodrug moieties” on them. Prodrug moieties are inactive parts of the molecule that hang off the active part to help it get where it needs to be and then get cut off, leaving tenofovir to do its job. TDF is an older drug that is well tolerated in most people. Its patent protection has expired, so it is a generic drug in many countries. That greatly reduced its price in many places. The most common serious side effect of it is that it can cause kidney problems in some but not most people. TAF is a newer drug that was designed to limit the kidney issue. It is still under patent and likely to be much more expensive.
I hope this context helps.
John Tavis.