Hepatitis B infects a large portion of the global population; the World Health Organization estimates one in three people worldwide has been infected by acute hepatitis B. Babies face a 90 percent risk of developing chronic infection after exposure. When untreated, chronic hepatitis B progresses to liver cancer 25 percent of the time, killing one in four. Vaccination prevents infection and oral antivirals suppress viral replication and halve liver cancer risk, but patients must take medication lifelong and can experience side effects, resistance, or rare organ complications. The B-United trial enrolls 300 chronic hepatitis B patients across 80 sites in 18 countries, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, with a San Francisco investigational site that treated the first patient on a potential curative therapy.
Liver specialist Maurizio Bonacini is in the race for a cure for hepatitis B, one of the world's most widespread diseases and a top cause of liver cancer around the globe. It's the last frontier, said Dr. Bonacini, a San Francisco-based clinical researcher who has spent his career studying the chronic version of the disease estimated to affect more than 2 million people in the United States.
The World Health Organization estimates that one of three people worldwide has been infected by acute hepatitis B. The likelihood of developing chronic hepatitis B is higher for the young the risk is 90 percent for babies with the bloodborne disease. When untreated, the virus progresses into liver cancer 25% of the time, killing one of four. Although hepatitis B is both preventable with vaccines and treatable with oral medication, the virus continues to spread 60 years after its discovery. There is no cure yet.
Hoping to change this, Bonacini joined B-United, a clinical trial with 300 chronic hepatitis B patients at 80 sites across 18 countries, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, a biopharma company headquartered in the U.K. Bonacini leads one of two investigation locations in California the other is in San Jose, led by Dr. Huy A. Nguyen at San Jose Gastroenterology. Bonacini's San Francisco site was first to treat a patient with a potential cure for chronic hepatitis B.
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