File photo of a nurse preparing an injection. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)
SINGAPORE: The National University Health System (NUHS) has been awarded S$25 million to lead research studies on eradicating Hepatitis B, it announced in a press release on May 23 (Monday).
A total of 29 researchers and scientists from NUHS, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), National University of Singapore, DUKE-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore General Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Changi General Hospital are involved.
There are 17 research studies under this grant and researchers aim to discover new drug targets and develop new treatments to cure Hepatitis B over a five-year period.
In Singapore, an estimated 3.6 per cent of the population have Hepatitis B, and it is the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer in the city-state. Studies have shown that 45 per cent of people afflicted with Hepatitis B are cured naturally of the disease as their immune systems get rid of the virus over a period of at least 25 years.
The other 55 per cent of the population may have to be on long-term medication. Overall, about 20 per cent to 30 per cent of them also have a possibility of developing further complications which may eventually lead to liver failure.
Said Professor Lim Seng Gee, the programme lead of the research studies: “Unlike other chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, chronic Hepatitis B can be cured. Up to now, however, there has been no comprehensive strategy or approach towards achieving a cure. With the help of patients, our hepatologist experts, unique laboratory research models, and the state-of-the-art technology, we are now definitively poised to tackle the Hepatitis B virus in Singapore, and potentially eliminate it.”
File photo of a nurse preparing an injection. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)