Research

Hepatitis B antiviral

According to the data of World Health Organization, about 325 million people are carriers of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) worldwide and nearly 800,000 people die from disease caused by hepatitis B virus each year. The hepatitis B vaccine is the major option for hepatitis B prevention, but it is ineffectiveness for reducing chronic hepatitis. China is the largest market of hepatitis B medication. In 2017, sales of nucleos(t)ide analogs reached a market size of RMB 8.3 billion (IMS).

Nucleos(t)ide inhibitors are the primary choice of HBV treatment, but it cannot eliminate hepatitis B virus residing in liver cells even with prolonged treatment. Other conventional medication such as interferon has poor effectiveness and significant side-effects. Thus, novel hepatitis B antiviral drug is urgently needed. TaiGen's HBV program targets the viral replication machinery via a novel mechanism with the aim of preventing HBV replication, thus eliminating the virus entirely.