Closing in on a cure for hepatitis B
Finite courses of treatment could get the virus under control — with the right combination of drugs.
For Thomas Tu, eliminating hepatitis B is a deeply personal goal.
Tu, a molecular virologist at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, learnt he had chronic hepatitis B as a teenager. A blood test revealed telltale signs of the infectious liver disease, which Tu had probably acquired at birth.
In his late 20s, Tu started taking a medication to limit the virus’s replication and prevent collateral damage to his liver cells. Now 36, he has been on that daily treatment — a pill known as a nucleoside analogue — ever since.
Yet, even with a therapy that keeps his infection well under control, Tu remains at heightened risk for liver disease. He must juggle visits to specialist doctors and bear prescription-drug costs. And he knows that many others — racked by the financial instability, emotional toil and stigma that the lifelong infection can bring — have it much worse.
“I’m in this quite privileged space to be able to be on therapy and not have any side effects or feel any burden from taking daily medicines,” Tu says. “That’s not the same for the majority of people living with hepatitis B.”
That’s why Tu and many other leading virologists and hepatologists continue to strive for something better: a curative fix for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections.
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