Hepatitis B Virus News and Research

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Combining medications may increase HBsAg loss in HBV patients

Combining tenofovir disoproxil fumarate with pegylated interferon alfa-2a may improve the chances of hepatitis B surface antigen loss in patients with hepatitis B virus infection, suggests a randomised trial.

3 Dec 2015

Researchers develop novel computational approach to accelerate search for hepatitis C vaccine

Borrowing from several statistical science models, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed a novel computational approach for massively accelerating the search for a hepatitis C vaccine.

1 Dec 2015

Combination of antiviral medications can eradicate HCV infection in patients with advanced liver disease

A large multi-center clinical trial has found that a combination of antiviral medications can eradicate hepatitis C infection in more than 90 percent of patients with advanced liver disease. Known as the ASTRAL-4 trial, the study was co-led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Intermountain Medical Center and published online Nov. 17 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Dec 2015

Fewer than 1 in 3 UK hospitals employ full-time doctors specialized in liver medicine

Despite rising rates of alcohol- and obesity-related liver disease, fewer than 1 in 3 UK hospitals employ a full-time liver specialist

22 Nov 2015

Brain imaging reveals distinctive aspects of high-inflammation depression

About one third of people with depression have high levels of inflammation markers in their blood. New research indicates that persistent inflammation affects the brain in ways that are connected with stubborn symptoms of depression, such as anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure.

21 Nov 2015

New drug combination may reduce need for complex regimens to treat hepatitis C

The prognosis for people with hepatitis C has improved dramatically in the last few years, thanks to the introduction of direct-acting anti-viral medications, including Harvoni (the brand name for a combination of ledipasvir and sofosbuvir) and Viekira Pack (a mix of ombitasvir, paritaprevir, ritonavir and dasabuvir).

19 Nov 2015

Positive data from AbbVie's HCV clinical development program presented at The Liver Meeting of AASLD

AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced data from the SURVEYOR studies of its investigational HCV regimen, ABT-493, an NS3/4A protease inhibitor, and ABT-530, an NS5A inhibitor, that show high rates of sustained virologic response at 12 weeks post-treatment (SVR 12) in non-cirrhotic patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

17 Nov 2015

New cancer control interventions may decrease cancer burden in low- and middle-income countries

In low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 5.5 million of the world’s 8 million cancer deaths occur each year, most people with cancer have little or no access to treatment and many die in severe pain for lack of inexpensive opioid pain medicine.

17 Nov 2015

UC Irvine Health researchers develop one-step test to detect HCV infections

UC Irvine Health researchers have developed a cost-effective one-step test that screens, detects and confirms hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Dr. Ke-Qin Hu, director of hepatology services, will present findings at the Annual Meeting of American Association for the Study of Liver Disease in San Francisco, Nov. 14-16. Current blood-based HCV testing requires two steps and can be expensive, inconvenient and is not widely available or affordable globally.

15 Nov 2015

Montefiore and Einstein researchers awarded $14 million PCORI grant for hepatitis C research

A research team at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine led by Alain Litwin, M.D., was awarded $14 million by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to determine how best to treat hepatitis C among people who inject drugs (PWID), a group with a high rate of infection.

11 Nov 2015

Genvoya approved as complete regimen for HIV treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Genvoya (a fixed-dose combination tablet containing elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide) as a complete regimen for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older.

6 Nov 2015

Johnson & Johnson signs definitive agreement to purchase Novira Therapeutics

Johnson & Johnson today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Novira Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapies for curative treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

4 Nov 2015

Study provides novel insight into the evolution of hepatitis A virus and how it spreads to humans

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are part of an international team led by the University of Bonn, Germany, who have found a link between the origin of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and small mammals.

4 Nov 2015

HIV, Ebola appear to be of animal origin

The hepatitis A virus can trigger acute liver inflammation which generally has a mild course in small children but which can become dangerous in adults.

3 Nov 2015

New paper device could rapidly and inexpensively assess hepatitis B, male infertility

Scientists have developed a new paper device that analyzes DNA and could rapidly and inexpensively assess disparate conditions including hepatitis B and male infertility, which together affect millions of people around the world. The test, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could be of particular help diagnosing people in low-income areas.

29 Oct 2015

Hiroshima University researchers report promising new avenue for treating hepatitis B

A promising new avenue for treating hepatitis B has been reported by researchers at Hiroshima University who have developed a new animal model of the disease.

28 Oct 2015

Researchers uncover genes that can suppress HCV infection within the liver

University of Adelaide researchers have uncovered the role played by a family of genes, which can suppress hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection within the liver.

28 Oct 2015

Men on effective HIV therapy less likely to get HBV infection, shows research

Previous studies of individuals with HIV have suggested that HIV drug regimens that included drugs active against hepatitis B virus (HBV) can decrease the risk of infection with the liver-damaging HBV.

13 Oct 2015

Understanding HCV disease progression rates among PWID

The Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a chronic blood-borne viral infection that affects an estimated 160 million people, or 2-3% of the population world-wide. Alarmingly, chronic HCV infection accounts for one-quarter of the cases of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). If HCV is left untreated, chronic liver disease will occur in 60-70% of the cases, cirrhosis in 5-20% of the cases, and 1-5% will die from decompensated cirrhosis or HCC.

6 Oct 2015

Real-time blood test based on DNA sequencing can rapidly diagnose Ebola and other acute infections

Using technical advances not yet developed when the 2014 Ebola outbreak began, UC San Francisco-led scientists completed a proof-of-principle study on a real-time blood test based on DNA sequencing that can be used to rapidly diagnose Ebola and other acute infections. The researchers said that the test can be used even where lab space and medical infrastructure are scarce.

From Oxford Nanopore Technologies 29 Sep 2015