“Scientists and advocates have long argued that if we are realistically going to eliminate Hepatitis B, then we will need a functional cure,” said Philip Newsome, Secretary General of EASL and Professor of Experimental Hepatology and Director of the Centre for Liver Research at the University of Birmingham in the UK. “The results from the trial of RNAi therapeutic drug VIR-2218 are an encouraging example that a cure is possible sooner than later with potential real-world implications for the 300 million people living with the disease.”
Each year 30 million people become newly infected with Hepatitis B and an estimated 884,000 people die each year from the disease and related complications such as liver cancer.
Today’s official press conference highlighted five studies covering treatment and cure research for hepatitis and acute on chronic liver failure selected from over 1500 abstracts being presented at ILC 2021.