A six-month course of injections just gave hepatitis B its first functional cure

For the more than 250 million people living with chronic hepatitis B, treatment has usually meant antiviral pills for years — often for life — just to keep the virus quiet. The US Food and Drug Administration has now approved Hibsago (bepirovirsen), a GSK injection given over six months, after large trials showed something never achieved before: 19% of patients kept the virus undetectable for 24 weeks after stopping all treatment, compared with under 1% on standard care alone, and 24% were able to stop their existing medicine entirely, compared with none on placebo. Doctors call it a 'functional cure' — not every trace of the virus erased, but the immune system holding it in check on its own, with no ongoing drugs. After the first dose, patients can even give themselves the injections at home.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation