Scientists find a potential cure for chronic hepatitis B
A new drug has essentially cured one in five patients with chronic hepatitis B infection, researchers reported Thursday, a feat that has stymied scientists for years.
“It is the first major advance in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in decades,” said Dr. William Jarnagin, a surgeon and liver specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The study involved patients who, unlike most people infected with hepatitis B, did not recover. Instead, the virus – which is transmitted through body fluids such as semen or blood – settles in the liver. Chronic infections can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and death.
While hepatitis B can be prevented with a vaccine, over a million people in the United States have contracted the chronic form of the infection. Treatment is lifelong and requires antivirals and medications that strengthen the immune response.
However, these treatments cannot eliminate the virus and do not eliminate the risk of liver cancer. A new drug, bepirovirsen, made the virus invisible in patients’ bodies – a so-called functional cure.
Bepirovirsen, made by Ionis Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline, prevents the virus from replicating and allows the immune system to attack. Therapy is administered as a weekly injection.
It was tested in two 24-week studies led by Chinese researchers that included more than 1,838 patients in 29 countries in Asia, Europe and North and South America.
In an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers reported that about 20 percent of patients who received bepirovirsen experienced a functional cure: no virus could be found 48 weeks after the end of treatment.
No one who received the placebo was cured. In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Anna S. Lok, associate dean for clinical research at the University of Michigan Medical School, called the results “remarkable” and said they “represent a major advance.”
Dr. Lok, who is also the director of clinical hepatology at the medical school, has advised GlaxoSmithKline and other companies involved in hepatitis treatments.
Some patients were excluded from the studies – those with liver cirrhosis, HIV infections or very high hepatitis B levels.
GlaxoSmithKline has applied to the Food and Drug Administration for approval to market the drug. A decision is expected by October 26th.
