Concurrent infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) may lead to cirrhosis, fulminant hepatitis or hepatocellular carcinoma faster than infection with HBV alone.
Three years ago when Keting Chu pondered the name for a new biopharma company that would fold in infectious disease assets from Novartis AG, she looked out over her West Coast backyard. “I was looking for a name that made you think of California,” she told BioWorld. She nixed the idea of incorporating redwood trees into the name, but then she saw the blue jays flying around those trees and thought, “that’s a beautiful bird.” Hence, Chu founded and became CEO of Bluejay Therapeutics Inc., first raising $20 million through a series A in June 2021 and a $41 million series B in August 2022. On May 9, the San Mateo, Calif.-based company closed a $182 million series C round, with plans to accelerate development of lead compound BJT-778 to treat chronic hepatitis D virus, a condition for which there are no approved therapeutics in the U.S.
YS Biopharma Co. Ltd. has received clinical trial approval by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration to begin a phase I trial of its YS-HBV-002 immunotherapeutic vaccine, designed to treat chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The trial will begin in the Philippines in June.
Precision Biosciences Inc. has received pre-IND regulatory feedback from the FDA and ex-U.S. agencies providing alignment and clarity on Precision's final IND/CTA-enabling preclinical plans and clinical strategy for PBGENE-HBV.
Astrivax NV has been awarded a €3 million grant by Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) to advance development of the company’s therapeutic vaccine targeting chronic hepatitis B.
LW-231, under development by Shanghai Longwood Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., is a novel bifunctional molecule designed to simultaneously modulate hepatitis B virus (HBV) capsid assembly and activate cGAS-STING pathway. Preclinical data were recently presented.
Researchers from Weifang Medical University and affiliated organizations have published details on the discovery of novel hepatitis B virus (HBV) capsid assembly modulators (CAMs).
Aligos Therapeutics Inc. has divulged bicyclic compounds acting as viral replication inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis D virus infections.
It’s known that interferon-alpha (IFNα) activates interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) and disrupts the hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication cycle. Pegylated (PEG)-IFNα has been widely used for its immunomodulatory and antiviral properties but it is not always well tolerated and thus its use is limited.
Epigenetic editing approach used the endogenous cellular mechanisms for regulating gene expression, leading to durable modulation of transcription without affecting the DNA sequence. Chroma Medicine Inc. scientists recently presented a novel epigenetic editing strategy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.
