Rhabdomyolysis in a 48-year-old man with hepatitis B-induced cirrhosis.

Telbivudine (beta-l-2'-deoxythymidine) is an orally administered nucleoside analog drug approved for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B since 2006. Initially, it was regarded as being generally well tolerated, with low adverse reaction profiles and no dose-limiting toxicity. Recently, with the result of the telbivudine worldwide phase III GLOBE trial and other clinical experiments, cases of myopathy and neuropathy have been reported undergoing long-term telbivudine treatments. Telbivudine-induced myopathy has been characterized by muscle pain, weakness and moderately elevated creatine kinase levels during treatments, although no severe adverse events have been observed. Rhabdomyolysis has not reported in any patient.