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Hepatitis B
PepTcell is applying its breakthrough technology to the development of a new class of T cell therapeutic vaccines that are effective against Hepatitis B. The synthetic vaccine will comprise a number of Hepatitis immunogenic
epitope
s.
The hepatitis B virus can cause an acute illness that resolves itself quickly without causing long-term liver damage, however, it can also cause a chronic illness that lasts more than six months, sometimes for life, and may cause cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hepatitis B is second only to tobacco as a human carcinogen, causing 50% of all liver cancers worldwide and is the ninth most common cause of death worldwide, killing around 2 million people each year.
There is currently a vaccine against Hepatitis B but it has a number of drawbacks. Firstly it is expensive, secondly it requires multiple vaccinations before sufficient
antibody
titres are achieved and thirdly a number of people are unable to form antibodies after vaccination and hence remain unprotected. The treatments for Hepatitis B are expensive, dangerous and unpleasant.
PepTcell's vaccine would create T cell memory and not
antibody
memory hence the shortcomings of the current vaccine should be avoided and it is possible that the company’s vaccine may also have therapeutic benefit.
PepTcell's Hepatitis B vaccine is at the proof of concept stage.
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