HBVtech is developing a vaccine to cure Hepatitis B.
Frederick, Md (KM) A single injection vaccine to cure Hepatitis B is being developed in Frederick. A local bio-pharma start up called HBVTech is working on this vaccine.
The Company was founded by Dr. Yong-Yuan Zhang, who has researched and written on Hepatitis B for a long time. He says it’s a highly contagious disease. “The Hepatitis B is a severe and infectious disease,”: Dr. Zhang says. “The fact that it affect 300-million people globally. And even the risk is 2.2-million.”
Hepatitis B is caused by a virus and it affects the liver. It can cause acute and chronic infection. Medical experts say the virus is transmitted through exposure to infectious bodily fluids. In areas where the disease is common, infection can occur during the time of childbirth or from contact with other people’s blood during childhood. Other risk factors include working in the health care profession, blood transfusions, dialysis, living with an infected person and sexual intercourse, medical experts say.
Since 1982, there has been a vaccine to prevent Hepatitis B. It’s administered in several doses.
Dr. Zhang says there are treatments for Hepatitis B, but they must be administered over a period of time. “When you get a chronic Hepatitis B, and you start medication, you need daily medication for life,” he says.
But his vaccine, called HBVZ10, can be all a person who is suffering from Hepatitis B will need, says Dr. Zhang..
In March, 2022, HBVTech presented details about the Hepatitis B cure at a plenary session at the 2022 Asia Pacific Association of the Study of the Liver meeting in Seoul, South Korea. A news release from the company says the HPVTech will present a poster at the 2022 HBV International Meeting in Paris, France. Another presentation follows in November, 2022, at Washington DC’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the 2022 American Association for the Study of Liver Disease meeting which is described as the biggest and most prestigious international liver conference.
Presently, Dr. Zhang says he’s looking for investors to fund the manufacture of this vaccine, and this is before it’s submitted to federal government agencies for their consideration. He says this type of operation could benefit the local economy “People need those doses. So it will be an impact on the local economy to manufacture this product,” he says.
HPVTech was founded in 2015, and Dr. Zhang, who serves s Chief Science Officer, says the first laboratory was opened in February, 2016. The facility is located within the Frederick Innovation Technology Center or FITCI.
By Kevin McManus