A phase 3 clinical trial evaluating bepirovirsen, a novel antisense oligonucleotide therapy, has delivered promising results for chronic hepatitis B treatment, with findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine. This breakthrough represents a significant shift in the therapeutic approach to hepatitis B, offering a mechanism fundamentally different from current standard care.
Bepirovirsen works by targeting hepatitis B virus RNA directly, aiming to reduce hepatitis B surface antigen production and achieve sustained virologic response. This represents a departure from conventional nucleoside analogue therapies, which primarily suppress viral replication without addressing the functional cure goal. The trial’s primary endpoints—sustained HBsAg loss and undetectable HBV DNA levels—align with WHO definitions of functional cure, underscoring the clinical significance of this approach for the estimated 296 million people living with chronic hepatitis B worldwide.
Read the full article on GMJ Newsroom.
Was this article helpful?
