Abstract: Liver cancer is among the most common malignancies, impacting significantly across all societies worldwide. The lethal impact of this prevalent cancer is unlikely to change considerably in the near future due to a limited understanding of disease pathogenesis on the molecular, cellular, and environmental levels and how current knowledge might be converted into new preventive, therapeutic and diagnostic approaches. This article highlights the current challenges and opportunities in this critical area of unmet need. ... Read more

Abstract: 350 million people worldwide carry the hepatitis B virus and 170 million the hepatitis C virus. There has been encouraging progress in recent years in the management of both infections. The combination of pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin is perhaps the most effective treatment today. ... Read more

Pharmaceutical companies continue to aggregate on the fast-growing field of antiviral drugs that treat chronic viral infections, especially hepatitis B and C infections.

On March 27, Novartis AG agreed to purchase a 51% controlling stake of Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA for $255 million. Novartis will also pay Idenix $75 million up front to license the company’s two hepatitis B drugs currently under development. Depending on whether Idenix can progress the two drugs to regulatory milestones, Novartis will pay as much as an additional $357 million for the same 51% stake to Idenix shareholders.

Idenix’s two hepatitis B drugs, Telbivudine (LdT) and ... Read more

A U.S. FDA panel voted unanimously on Aug. 6th to recommend the approval of Gilead Sciences’ (Foster City, Calif.) drug Adefovir to treat hepatitis B infection.

The drug was originally developed as an anti-HIV product and was rejected in 1999 by an FDA panel chiefly due to concerns of its side effects on the kidney.

Around 350 million people worldwide, mainly in developing countries such as China and about 1.25 million people in the USA are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. Due to the virus’s ability to go latent and integrate its genome into the host cell counterpart, the immune ... Read more