Gemvax & Kael said that it has confirmed the efficacy of GV1001 in treating hepatitis B virus (HBV), and published it in the May edition of the Frontiers in Immunology.

Gemvax & KAEL headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

HBV infection is known to cause chronic and fatal liver diseases such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. There are about 260 million people worldwide infected with HBV, and the annual death toll from HBV-related diseases reaches about 887,000.

According to the company, about 12 to 20 percent of patients with chronic HBV develop liver cirrhosis within five years, while liver cancer occurs in 10 to 17 percent of patients. However, there is no complete cure for the disease.

"GV1001 inhibited HBV replication and hepatitis B virus surface antigen secretion in a dose-dependent manner and showed a synergistic antiviral effect when administered in combination with other antiviral agents such as Entecavir and lamivudine," said Professor Kim Bum-joon, the lead researcher for the project.

Researchers also confirmed that the drug inhibits the viral cccDNA and pgRNA, and showed a virus inhibitory effect even when injected intravenously to HBV transgenic mice, he added.

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