led global team hopes to answer hep B treatment questions

A new international research collaboration – B-ZERO – has secured a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award to investigate why some hepatitis B patients fail to suppress the virus despite receiving treatment. The Stellenbosch University -led study also involves the Universities of Cape Town , Addis Ababa, Bristol, and Oslo, as well as the Francis Crick Institute , a leading biomedical research centre in London, and the Vestfold Hospital Trust , a Norwegian public health trust.

The team will study patient responses to tenofovir, exploring factors like drug concentrations, access to treatment and differences in African HBV strains, with the findings aiming to improve hepatitis B treatment outcomes, reduce liver disease and cancer risk, and strengthen efforts to eliminate viral hepatitis in African health systems.