Tenofovir Versus Tenofovir + Telbivudine for Chronic Hepatitis B (DUAL)

Each subject must sign and date a study-specific informed consent form (ICF) prior to their participation in any screening activities. Prospective subjects should be screened no more than 28 days prior to administration of the first dose of study drug on Day 1. Screening evaluations will be used to determine eligibility of each candidate for study enrollment. Subjects meeting all of the inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria as determined during screening will be eligible for the study. Candidates who fail to meet eligibility criteria by screening evaluations may be re-screened one time. Eligible patients at the end of screening will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to experimental (combination) arm versus control (mono therapy) arm.

Randomisation will be performed by computer generated random codes (performed by Singapore Clinical Research Institute) with a masked allocation sequence. There will be no blinding of therapy and the study will be conducted as an open label study since the outcomes are objectively measurable.

After randomisation patients will be monitored 12 weekly for the first 24 weeks, then every 24 weekly until the last visit at 96 weeks.

At each visit, patients will have a clinical evaluation and have a panel of laboratory tests:

* Hematology: Full blood count, prothrombin time and international normalized ratio * Chemistry: Sodium, potassium, creatinine, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, -aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, lactate dehydrogenase, total bilirubin, creatine phosphokinase, alphafetoprotein, * Urinalysis: Urine dipstick (Appearance, color, leucocytes, nitrite, urobilinogen, protein, PH, specific gravity, ketone, bilirubin and glucose). * Viral serology: HBeAg, anti-HBe, HBsAg, qHBsAg and anti-HBs