According to Xinhua, the drug, developed in cooperation with Qinghua University and Beijing-based biotechnology company Huahui Health, started to be administered in a hospital in the capital.
The drug called “Libevitug” is the first monoclonal antibody treatment against hepatitis viruses in the world.
The drug, which prevents hepatitis B and D viruses from penetrating liver cells, treats liver infection caused by hepatitis D.
5 percent of the 254 million hepatitis B carriers in the world also have hepatitis D infection. It is anticipated that the drug will fill an important gap in the treatment of these patients.
CLINICAL TRIALS STARTED IN 2018
A multi-center international treatment study involving chronic patients was conducted in 2023 for the drug, whose clinical trials started in 2018.
The China National Medical Products Administration gave conditional approval to the use of the drug in January after priority review.
Monoclonal antibodies are defined in medicine as structures that are produced from only a single antibody cell and can create immunity on their own by reacting against a single epitope to which antigens bind to the cell.
