Author information

• ¹Liver Diseases Branch, National Institute of Diabetes, National Institutes of Health, & Digestive & Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Abstract

Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection is a chronic viral disease of the liver that is still largely considered to be incurable due to lack of effective treatment options. Without treatment, the risk for the development of advanced liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is significantly high. Currently, new therapeutic options are emerging out of ongoing phase 3 clinical trials, promising a new hope of cure for this devastating liver infection. Recently, bulevirtide, a first in its class HDV entry inhibitor has received conditional authorization of use from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and was also submitted for approval in the United States. Other novel therapeutic options in clincal trials include interferon lambda, the prenylation inhibitor lonafarnib and nucleic acidc polymers (NAPs). This review describes all recent advances and on-going changes to the field of HDV therpaeutics.