Hepatitis B News and Research

Latest Hepatitis B News and Research

New guidelines for von Willebrand disease

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, has issued the first clinical guidelines in the United States for the diagnosis and management of von Willebrand Disease (VWD), the most common inherited bleeding disorder.

1 Mar 2008

Nasal vaccine for smallpox protects animals against 77 times the potentially lethal dose of smallpox

Scientists at NanoBio Corporation and the University of Michigan have demonstrated their nasally delivered vaccinia vaccine can protect animals against 77 times the potentially lethal dose of smallpox, and without the safety risks of current vaccines for smallpox.

27 Feb 2008

Nanoemulsion vaccines show increasing promise

A novel technique for vaccinating against a variety of infectious diseases - using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose, rather than needles - has proved able to produce a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV in two new studies.

27 Feb 2008

Children's Hospital 1 of 10 pediatric hospitals in US selected to study liver disease in kids

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has been selected to join an effort among select centers in the United States and Canada to collect and study information necessary to understand the possible causes and treatment of a destructive liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

27 Feb 2008

Abbott receives approval for HUMIRA (Adalimumab) for polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Abbott has announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to market HUMIRA (adalimumab) as a treatment to reduce signs and symptoms of moderately to severely active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in patients four years of age and older.

26 Feb 2008

Fast food and no exercise damages the liver

Too much fast food and too little exercise can harm the liver, reveals a small study published ahead of print in the journal Gut.

18 Feb 2008

Getting under the skin of HIV, hep C

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is working towards a new approach to treat people with HIV/AIDS, with a drug which has already shown promise in the laboratory.

5 Feb 2008

Two new studies examine non-invasive ways to determine liver fibrosis and cirrhosis

An enhanced version of the Original European Liver Fibrosis panel was found to have good diagnostic accuracy for fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Conversely, transient elastography was unreliable for detecting cirrhosis in patients with acute liver damage. The studies are published in the February issue of Hepatology, a journal by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). The articles are also available online at Wiley Interscience.

5 Feb 2008

Enbrel shown to significantly reduced levels of C-reactive protein

Amgen and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth have announced findings from a retrospective analysis, which demonstrated that ENBREL reduced C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis following 12 weeks of treatment. Median reduction in CRP levels was 10 times greater in the ENBREL treated group compared to the placebo treated group.

5 Feb 2008

microRNAs may help predict survival in liver cancer

Tiny molecules that help cells regulate which proteins they make might one day help doctors predict which liver-cancer patients are likely to live longer than others, new research suggests.

4 Feb 2008

Researchers seek trial participants for experimental HIV vaccine called PENNVAX-B

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers are recruiting healthy, HIV-negative adults to participate in a phase I clinical trial of an experimental HIV vaccine called PENNVAX-B, a DNA-based vaccine which is made using synthetic DNA-based HIV genes.

4 Feb 2008

UK Doctors failing gender disordered children

Gender disordered children as young as ten are being denied desperately needed hormonal drugs leading to bullying, violence and even suicide according to new research.

From The University of Manchester 23 Jan 2008

Extra-hepatic manifestation of hepatitis C virus infection

In 1994, the team of Tchernev and Petrova from Alexandrovska Hospital in Sofia examined a female patient with liver cirrhosis caused by chronic Hepatitis C virus (HCV).

17 Jan 2008

Proteomic profiling shown more accurate than traditional biomarkers in identifying liver cancer

As the incidence of liver cancer continues to grow - fueled in large part, by rising rates of hepatitis C infections - so too does the need for tests to help diagnose the disease at an earlier stage.

16 Jan 2008

Gender differences in liver cancer

A fundamental difference in the way males and females respond to chronic liver disease at the genetic level helps explain why men are more prone to liver cancer, according to MIT researchers.

16 Jan 2008

A look at China's most innovative health biotechnology companies

Government funds innovation but venture capital needed; Wary investors 'need to be shown the exits'; Returning 'sea turtles' bring expertise, international credibility

8 Jan 2008

Shorter HCV treatment shows notable success

Two new randomized controlled trials show that treating Hepatitis C (HCV) with peginterferon and ribavirin for shorter durations can yield success rates similar to those from longer treatment lengths, with cost-savings and lower risk of serious side effects.

3 Jan 2008

Gene variation increases risk of liver tumor in patients with cirrhosis

A particular gene variation appears to significantly increase the risk that individuals with cirrhosis of the liver will go on to develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a liver tumor that is the third leading cause of cancer death.

2 Jan 2008

Drug effective for hepatitis C patients with low platelets

For patients with hepatitis C, having a low blood platelet count is a frequent complication associated with advanced disease.

2 Jan 2008

Optimal therapy for U.S. hepatitis C patients

As reported recently in the journal Hepatology, WIN-R, a multicenter study of over 5,000 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) showed treatment with weight-based REBETOL ribavirin, USP) (RBV) in combination with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) alfa-2b achieved significantly higher rates of sustained virologic response (SVR) and lower relapse rates compared to combination therapy using a flat dose of RBV 800 mg/day. Superior response was found particularly in patients with the most difficult-to-treat form of the disease, genotype 1 HCV. Efficacy was consistent across all weight groups.

28 Dec 2007