PLOS Blogs’ “Speaking of Medicine”: Perspectives Toward the Elimination of Hepatitis B
Guangxiang (George) Luo, professor at the University of Alabama’s Birmingham School of Medicine and the Peking University Health Science Center, “discusses recent advances in antiviral drug development and hepatitis B immunization which hold great promise for achieving the WHO goal of eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030.” He writes, “[I]t is feasible to eliminate chronic hepatitis B given the current advances in the discovery and development of novel antiviral drugs and scale-up of HBV vaccination. The key toward the elimination of hepatitis B lies in the commitment of WHO member state governments in their investments in basic and translational biomedical research and implementation and reinforcement of universal HBV immunization…” (7/28).