Hepatitis B News and Research RSS Feed - Hepatitis B News and Research

Hepatitis B is one type of hepatitis – a liver disease- caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Hepatitis B spreads by contact with an infected person's blood, semen or other body fluid. An infected woman can give hepatitis B to her baby at birth.

If you get HBV, you may feel as if you have the flu, or you may have no symptoms at all. A blood test can tell if you have it. HBV usually gets better on its own after a few months. If it does not get better, it is called chronic HBV, which lasts a lifetime. Chronic HBV can lead to scarring of the liver, liver failure or liver cancer.

There is a vaccine for HBV. It requires three shots. All babies should get the vaccine, but older children and adults can get it too. If you travel to countries where Hepatitis B is common, you should get the vaccine.

Biostar Pharmaceuticals revenue decreases 23.9% to $12.1 million in first quarter 2013

Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a PRC-based manufacturer and marketer of pharmaceutical and health supplement products in China for a variety of diseases and conditions, today announced financial results of the first quarter ended March 31, 2013. [More]
Simponi injection gets FDA approval to treat adults with ulcerative colitis

Simponi injection gets FDA approval to treat adults with ulcerative colitis

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a new use for Simponi (golimumab) injection to treat adults with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. [More]
Understanding different forms of hepatitis

Understanding different forms of hepatitis

It's Hepatitis Awareness Month. Understanding the different forms of hepatitis, who is at risk and how it can be prevented and treated can be confusing. [More]
FDA approves Novartis' Ilaris for treatment of active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis

FDA approves Novartis' Ilaris for treatment of active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Novartis announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved Ilaris (canakinumab) for the treatment of active systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis in patients aged 2 years and older. [More]
Health providers with hepatitis B are covered by disability law

Health providers with hepatitis B are covered by disability law

The U.S. Department of Justice recently declared in a legal settlement that hepatitis B patients are protected by federal disability law. [More]

First Edition: May 6, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with The Washington Post, reports: "Florida is on course to spend $6 million to reach out to nearly 4 million uninsured people and help them sign up for coverage in the federal health law's online marketplace this fall. [More]
Somalia launches pentavalent vaccine with support from GAVI, UNICEF, WHO

Somalia launches pentavalent vaccine with support from GAVI, UNICEF, WHO

"Coinciding with World Immunization Week, the Somali government announced on 24 April its intention to vaccinate all children under the age of one with a new five-in-one vaccine, known as a pentavalent vaccine, funded by the GAVI Alliance, with [UNICEF] and the [WHO] as implementing partners," IRIN reports. [More]
Transgene announces pre-clinical data of TG1050 for treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection

Transgene announces pre-clinical data of TG1050 for treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection

Transgene SA, a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted immunotherapy products to treat major unmet medical needs in cancer and chronic infectious diseases, announced pre-clinical data obtained with its novel immunotherapeutic, TG1050, to treat chronic hepatitis B infection. [More]
UK’s health performance: an interview with Prof. Murray, University of Washington

UK’s health performance: an interview with Prof. Murray, University of Washington

Rates of premature mortality in the UK have been falling steadily, but the pace of decline is not as fast as in many other high-income countries, such as Australia. In that sense, the UK lags behind. [More]
GS-9620 therapy suppresses hepatitis B virus infection

GS-9620 therapy suppresses hepatitis B virus infection

A novel drug developed by Gilead Sciences and tested in an animal model at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio suppresses hepatitis B virus infection by stimulating the immune system and inducing loss of infected cells. [More]
New hope for patients with chronic HBV infection

New hope for patients with chronic HBV infection

Exciting new data presented today at the International Liver Congress- 2013 include rults from early in vitro and in vivo studies targeting covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), which may form the basis of a cure for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. [More]
Vertex presents data of telaprevir Phase 3b CONCISE study in people with genotype 1 chronic HCV

Vertex presents data of telaprevir Phase 3b CONCISE study in people with genotype 1 chronic HCV

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced new data from an interim analysis of the exploratory global Phase 3b CONCISE study evaluating the potential to shorten total treatment with telaprevir combination therapy to 12 weeks in certain people with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus infection who have the IL28B CC genotype. [More]
Home-based health education about diseases most effective, finds study

Home-based health education about diseases most effective, finds study

In the first study of its kind, lay health workers increased screening rates for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and knowledge about the disease among a group of Asian Americans, known as the Hmong, UC Davis researchers have found. [More]
DNAzymes, gold nanoparticles and disease detection: an interview with Dr Chan and Kyryl Zagorovsky, University of Toronto

DNAzymes, gold nanoparticles and disease detection: an interview with Dr Chan and Kyryl Zagorovsky, University of Toronto

Gold nanoparticles are tiny spherical particles made out of gold atoms with sizes on nanometre scale. This is around 1,000 times smaller than the thickness of human hair. [More]

Indian drug supplier cuts price of 5-in-1 childhood vaccine for GAVI Alliance; Groups highlight World Immunization Week

"The cost of immunizing children in developing countries with a five-in-one vaccine is set to fall after a deal by an Indian supplier to slash the price it charges the GAVI global vaccines group," Reuters reports. [More]
Flunisyn Phase 2a trial data shows positive results in elderly population

Flunisyn Phase 2a trial data shows positive results in elderly population

Following the widely publicised US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report in February that the current season's flu vaccine is only 9% effective in the over-65 population, Immune Targeting Systems Limited, today announces positive data from a Phase 2a trial with the Company's lead pan-strain influenza A T-cell vaccine, Flunisyn, in the elderly population. [More]
Benitec to conduct phase I/II clinical trial of TT-034 in patients with HCV in UCSD site

Benitec to conduct phase I/II clinical trial of TT-034 in patients with HCV in UCSD site

RNAi-based therapeutics company Benitec Biopharma Limited today announced the selection of the University of California, San Diego, Health Sciences as the second site for its upcoming phase I/II first-in-man trial for TT-034 in Hepatitis C infections. [More]
New research shows safety can be improved for people participating in medical experiments

New research shows safety can be improved for people participating in medical experiments

In almost 90 per cent of cases, novel drugs tested on humans by pharmaceutical companies do not work as intended and must be scrapped. Often the drugs do not work, while at worst, test subjects die. New research from the University of Southern Denmark now shows that this number can be reduced. [More]

MKK4 gene could be a promising therapeutic target for liver disease, study reveals

Chronic liver failure is a major health problem that causes about one million deaths around the world each year. A study published April 11th by Cell Press in the journal Cell reveals a new type of screen for identifying genes that promote liver repair in mouse models of both acute and chronic liver disease. [More]

Clinical data of two Transgene products to be presented at EASL Conference

Transgene SA, a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted immunotherapy products to treat major unmet medical needs in cancer and infectious diseases, today announced that favourable pre-clinical and clinical data on two Transgene products - TG1050 and TG4040 to treat chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C, respectively - will be presented in oral presentations at this year's European Association for the Study of the Liver Conference (Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 24-28, 2013). [More]