Dear @leonfeng and @Barry,
Thanks for raising this important issue so passionately. I think you have hit on a feeling that is common throughout the affected community (I hope you don’t mind that I have moved this thread into a previous one that deals with the same issue).
As mentioned above, there is ample motivation for industry to develop a curative treatment - one would be incredibly profitable, much more than the status quo: TDF and ETV are off patent, so these industries do not significantly profit any more from them.
Indeed, I am aware of a lot of industry investment (funds, manpower, time, consulting, and strategizing) into developing potential candidates for cure. This is not to say that industry are full of angels and of course profit is a strong motivator, but it is a misrepresentation of the research efforts going on in the field.
The bottom line is that this work (and this problem) is hard. We really don’t need an external agent like pharma to kill off technologies, nature and results from experiments are already doing this for us.
I will not give you the possibility again of a cure within 5-10 years, but it is true that we have progressed in that time finding a lot of approaches that haven’t worked (and some that potentially do in a sub-set of patients). This is the real nature of research and has been the same for other diseases too (e.g., the lead up to the cure for HCV).
From my perspective, the main ones profiting from ongoing chronic infections are supplement suppliers, who do not even need to show evidence of efficacy in their “treatments”. It’s a billion dollar industry built on in many cases empty promises of “health”.
Thomas
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Hi @Barry,
Your concern about big pharma financial interest is valid. I differ from your take on the COVID vaccines. The initial vaccines worked, but the later ones were not that effective because we were dealing with different variants every week or month it felt like and it became impossible to keep updating these vaccines. So for example, we get vaccinated against variant A, then variant B becomes the dominant strain a month later. The vaccine for A is not going to protect you against the B variant since they are different. If you are exposed to variant B, you will get infected despite being vaccinated against variant A. In this situation, we are dealing with 2 distinct mutated variants. That does not necessarily mean the vaccines were bad. We had about a total of 10 different variants spreading around at the same time and this was challenging and impossible trying to update the vaccines to match all those strains. This increased the chance for some of these variants to escape or evade our immune system.
On top of that some people did not use the personal protection tools efficiently. I bet you saw people wearing their masks around their chin or mouth with the nose open. That is not going to provide any protection because it is not being used the right way. My roommate and I never got COVID. We got the first 2 shots and used face masks anytime we went to the stores or doctor’s office. At that time I was doing my internship at an organization that provided services to children with behavioral issues ( in person). There were other reasons for this, so it was not that the vaccines did not work. Rather the deck was stacked up against us during the pandemic.
I agree with you 100% about the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry being a concern when it comes to finding cures for diseases. They dictate what comes to the market based on demand and how much profit they can make. Thanks, Bansah1
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I guess for us (infected) it means that we have to live with this for the end of our lifecycle. Healthy one will get a vaccine and we would just die with this stigma ))
The only drug that has proved efficacy, which is PEGINF, now is not available. What does it tell you guys?)
Recently, Pegasys has been experiencing significant supply shortages across all dosages. The manufacturer has reported that these shortages are due to increased global demand and are expected to continue until at least June 30, 2025. During this period, healthcare professionals are advised not to initiate new treatments with Pegasys and to reserve existing stock for patients currently undergoing therapy. If continuation of therapy is not possible due to lack of availability, alternative treatments should be considered. 
In addition to the current supply issues, Pegasys has faced legal challenges in the past. Notably, in 2012, Roche lost its patent for Pegasys in India. The Indian Patent Appellate Board revoked the patent, citing the high cost of the medication and questioning its efficacy over existing treatments. This decision allowed for the production of generic versions in the Indian market.
In addition, Roche has halted development of its entire HBV portfolio…
What is going on. It’s pretty straightforward message…
hello! I read your entire story. I hope everything is well with you, my friend and I’m sorry for what happened to your father and grandfather.
I am not an expert, nor a scientist, nor a doctor. I am also another patient who discovered his condition in 2024. This thought described in the video you shared is always tempting… looking at the glass as half empty. but I think it’s important to look at the glass as half full, knowing that it could be worse: if we haven’t been diagnosed, we don’t have access to doctors or we don’t even have medication to stop the progression of liver disease… this is a point that I would like you to pay attention to.
the other aspect is what dr. @ThomasTu and Dr. @availlant stated above: pharmaceutical companies would make much more profit from selling the cure. In my opinion, the problem in this market is this: although there are many of us, we are underreported and it is a very peculiar and complex RNA virus. This moves companies away from searching for a cure for “simpler and more profitable” investments. this is my perception as a patient.
Finally, I believe that there is ambition everywhere… but there can also be altruism and good works towards others. So, I try to remain neither too optimistic nor too pessimistic… but cautious! Let’s live one day at a time, taking care of ourselves and hoping that better days come our way.
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Hi @Fckhbvstigma,
The shortage of interferon appears to be unrelated to Roche halting their HBV portfolio. And if anything production of generic interferon will eventually increase cheap supply.
I’m not sure that there is anything nefarious going on here. Interferon mostly fell out of use in many countries because it did not work in the majority of cases to cure hep B, it was hard to administer (multiple injections over a year) and it caused disruptive side-effects. It’s now being included in combination with new approaches to Hep B cure, to boost their effects, so there is a resurgence in demand in these cases.
Thomas
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Roche stopped manufacturing pegIFN directly and sub-licensed its production by other CMOs in different jurisdictions. This happened long before they dumped their HBV portfolio. The shortages are being driven by the the transitional stage of pegIFN supply. This is happening in several countries.
@availlant
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