Policies & Research

Could New Hepatitis B Drug – Bepirovirsen – Offer a Higher Functional Cure Rate?

At the start of January, pharmaceutical company GSK announced positive results from its two phase-III trials for bepirovirsen, a potential first-in-class treatment for chronic hepatitis B. They claim that bepirovirsen …

‘Shared decision-making’ for childhood vaccines sounds empowering – but it may mean less access for families already stretched thin

Shared decision-making is an approach doctors use when there’s genuinely more than one reasonable choice and the answer depends on what matters most and feels right to the patient.

Curing Hepatitis C Reduces Strain on the Immune System of HIV Patients

Fighting two infections at once puts an extra-heavy burden on the immune system. In Australia for example, a number of older people with haemophilia live with both hepatitis C and …

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Hepatitis Experts Welcome ATAGI Statement on Hepatitis B Birth Dose Vaccination

Australia’s hepatitis experts have welcomed a new statement from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) confirming the importance and safety of administering the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. Responding to …

Abandoning Hepatitis B Vaccines for Babies is Bad Science and Bad Medicine

Hepatitis Australia, ASHM and the Australian Technical Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) are urging Australians to maintain routine hepatitis B vaccinations for newborns following the alarming news that the advisory panel …

Community Leaders Share Concerns About Hepatitis B and the Law

Hepatitis B is Australia’s most prevalent blood-borne virus, with nearly 220,000 people estimated to be living with chronic infection. In a recent report called ‘If Hepatitis was 100 People’, Hepatitis …

Treating Fibrosis with Henna

Henna is natural dye, orange-red in colour, made from the powdered leaves of Lawsonia inermis and was being used in body art, and as a dye for hair, nails and …

A Single-Dose Cure for Hep B?

Hepatitis B remains a global public health problem, even in countries like Australia with universal childhood vaccination. For people who have been infected, and who now live with chronic hepatitis B, …

UK Shows the Power of Opt-Out Testing

Thousands of Britons have been found to have been living with previously undiagnosed hepatitis and HIV under a new testing system recently introduced in accident and emergency departments by the …

Understanding Clinical Trials in MASLD

Involvement in a clinical trial may provide access to new treatments and provide participants with a higher level of clinical care, which many people with fatty liver find beneficial.

Pig-to-Human Liver Transplant Shows Mixed Success

Part of a liver from a genetically engineered pig has been transplanted into a living human recipient, who then survived a further six months before dying from repeated upper gastrointestinal …

While We Wait for a Hepatitis B Cure – Screen More, Treat More, Treat Earlier

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is notoriously hard to get rid of. The virus embeds its covalently closed circular DNA (the cccDNA) in the liver, integrating itself into the host …

How Machine Learning Can Help Discover Anti-Hepatitis C Drugs

Finding a single novel molecule for drug development can take years. Machine learning can help process billions of molecules in a day, and aid drug discovery against viral illnesses that …

High Hep C Cure Rate Among NSP Clients

Findings from the Australian Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) Survey 30-year National Data Report shows highly significant reductions in hepatitis C infections and high levels of treatment and cure among …