The time to cure hepatitis B is now
The digitally-colourized transmission electron microscopic image reveals the presence of Hepatitis B virions (orange coloured).
On the eve of World Hepatitis Day, the International Coalition to Eliminate HBV (ICE-HBV) has called in the Comment of Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology to support appropriate hepatitis B (HBV) cure research and preparedness and to integrate it in global plans to eliminate viral hepatitis. The Coalition is a global group of researchers, patient representatives and health organisations including the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF).
More than 290 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the HBV, a viral infection that attacks the liver and can cause both acute and chronic disease. Last year nearly 900 000 people died from the disease.
A safe and effective vaccine to prevent HBV exists and its universal delivery is essential for the elimination of HBV as a public health threat. Lifelong treatment is also needed for those already chronically infected but currently is only accessed by some five per cent of the 94 million people who need it.
Members of ICE-HBV argue in a commentary published today in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology that there is a need for appropriate cure research and preparedness to complement the World Health Organisation´s global elimination strategy, the HBV vaccine and the well-tolerated but poorly accessed therapy.
“It is an ethical imperative that we rapidly scale-up diagnosis and treatment of these ‘missing millions’ and build the universal health systems to engage them in order to provide equitable access to cure therapies once they become available,” said Dr Jeffrey Lazarus, an ICE-HBV member and head of the Health Systems Research Group at the Barcelona Institute for Health (ISGlobal) in Barcelona, Spain.
The current treatment regime helps keep HBV under control, but it is not a cure because it cannot completely clear HBV from infected cells. Even with ongoing treatment, people are still at a higher risk of developing liver cancer, particularly those with underlying cirrhosis due to chronic HBV. It raises issues of medication adherence and requires considerable investment for ongoing monitoring, adding to the challenges of achieving elimination.
Recent scientific progress and the momentum created by the discovery of a cure for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) has created a sense of hope to find a cure for HBV.
ICE-HBV is calling for increased investments in HBV cure research and cure preparedness to save the lives of the 292 million people living with chronic Hepatitis B worldwide, including many unaware of their infection.
ICE-HBV will launch a Global Scientific Strategy to Cure Hepatitis B immediately before the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases Liver meeting in San Francisco in November 2018. The scientific strategy aims to guide and accelerate research efforts globally, to ensure that the objectives outlined by WHO are sustainably met. ICE-HBV has already begun moving forward the most urgent research priorities such as developing reliable models and assays to study the impact of new molecules under development.
While ICE-HBV strongly supports both the World Health Organization global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis elimination and the World Hepatitis Alliance‘s ‘Missing Millions’ campaign, it urges a more universal health care approach to the Hepatitis B response that has public health and research agencies go beyond the existing objectives and work together to discover and ensure access to curative treatment regimens for people living with HBV.
“Almost 900 000 people dying unnecessarily of Hepatitis B every year is simply unacceptable,” said Professor Ulrike Protzer, Director of the Institute of Virology, Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technical University of Munich, ICE-HBV Board Member and Vice Chair of the German Center for Infection Research.
“HBV cure research could make all the difference and prevent adverse outcomes in all people infected with HBV, allowing them to live treatment-free fully productive lives and reduce the stigma associated with this chronic infection.”
About the International Coalition to Eliminate Hepatitis B
International research-driven forum, which is coordinating, promoting and establishing public-private collaborative partnerships to accelerate the discovery of a CHB cure. ICE-HBV aims to fast-track the discovery of a safe, effective, affordable and scalable cure to benefit all people living with CHB, including children and people living with HCV, HDV and HIV co-infection. ICE-HBV intends to contribute to the elimination of CHB as a global public health challenge. ICE-HBV is a non-profit initiative initially created in 2016 by academic researchers incl. German Center for Infection Research. More on www.ICE-HBV.org
