Janssen Pharmaceuticals has signed a collaboration agreement with the National Taiwan University (NTU) and the university’s hospital (NTUH) to cooperate on developing new drugs for treating hepatitis B. Despite the high success rate of viral suppression achieved by existing medications, the virus is currently incurable.
Chen Ding-shinn (陳定信), chair professor at National Taiwan University Medical College, said that there are more than 350 million people in the world infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), 60 to 70 percent of which are in Asia.
Every year, more than 600 thousand people die as a result of complications such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer caused by the virus.
“HBV can be transmitted prenatally [from mother to child] or by having contact with an infected person. While less than 3 percent of adults infected with the virus develop chronic hepatitis, more than 90 percent of infected newborns do,” Chen said. “Those who have chronic or persistent hepatitis B are at a high risk of developing liver cirrhosis or liver cancer later in life.”
There are about 2.4 million HBV carriers in Taiwan, Chen said, adding that statistics in 2011 showed that deaths attributable to liver cancer ranked No. 2 on the list of leading causes of death for men and women.
“Eighty percent to 90 percent of liver cancer patients had chronic hepatitis B,” he said.
“However, after Taiwan started vaccinating newborns against HBV in 1984, the number of yearly infections has decreased,” Chen said.
While the nation’s vaccination plan is an effective prevention measure, “having better control over the source of infection is still out of reach. Interferon, an approved medication for treating HBV infections is effective in only one-third of patients, while another treatment, nucleoside analogue therapy, inhibits viral replication without completely eliminating the virus.”
The collaboration is intended to develop a treatment to tackle the disease, Jansen, NTU and NTUH said in a joint statement.
Chen Pei-jer (陳培哲), a professor at the Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine in NTUH’s Medical College and the principal investigator of the collaboration, said the aim is to “accelerate the development of a new hepatitis B drug by combining the resources uniquely held by the respective partners.”
“NTU has been working in this research field for more than 50 years. NTU’s specialization and experience makes it peerless in the fields of drug research and development,” Chen Pei-jer said.
“Janssen has a large collection of compounds as drug candidates. They need a platform to see whether the candidates are safe and effective,” Chen Pei-jer added.
From the mouse model first established by the NTU research team for assaying anti-viral and immune-modulatory activity — an important indication of HBV eradication — and the woodchuck model, which demonstrates HBV activity most similar to that of human HBV, to recent clinical research, Taiwan has always been a leader in the field of HBV treatment, Chen Pei-jer said, adding that NTU’s research was “a complete line from bench to bedside and back.”
“We are aiming to take the lead in developing a new drug to fully eradicate HBV,” the lead investigator said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,