The 16th World Hepatitis Day | Don't Be a "Carrier" of Stigma — First, Break Through These "Liver" T

Date： 2026-07-28

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July 28th marks the birthday of Baruch Blumberg. This Nobel laureate discovered the hepatitis B virus and developed diagnostic methods and vaccines. In 2010, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution establishing this date as "World Hepatitis Day"; since 2011, the commemoration has been observed globally, and this year marks the 16th World Hepatitis Day. (1)

This year, China's promotional theme for World Hepatitis Day is "Social Co-Governance to Eliminate Hepatitis," aligning with the goals set forth in the China Action Plan for the Prevention and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis (2025–2030): to eliminate the public health threat of viral hepatitis by 2030. To understand how far we are from this goal, let's start with the latest figures. (2)

PART.01

Hepatitis: Progress and the Distance Still to Go

In April this year, the World Health Organization released the 2026 Global Hepatitis Report, painting the latest global picture:

There are currently 287 million people living with chronic hepatitis B and C infections worldwide; in 2024, there were 1.8 million new infections of the two hepatitis types combined, averaging more than 4,900 new cases per day; that same year, hepatitis B and C together caused 1.34 million deaths, accounting for over 95% of all hepatitis-related deaths globally — approximately 1.1 million from hepatitis B and about 240,000 from hepatitis C. The leading causes of death are cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. (3)

The good news is that compared with 2015, global new hepatitis B infections have dropped by 32%, hepatitis C-related deaths have fallen by 12%, hepatitis B prevalence among children under five has declined to 0.6%, and 85 countries have achieved or surpassed their 2030 interim targets ahead of schedule. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated upon the report's release that eliminating hepatitis is not out of reach, but requires sustained political commitment and financial support.

The progress is real — and so is the distance to the goal. That is precisely why "social co-governance" was written into this year's theme: no single party can push this forward alone. And within the co-governance framework, scientific and technological innovation is an indispensable key piece.

PART.02

From Prevention to Treatment — What Science Can Do Is Growing

The technical toolbox for hepatitis prevention and treatment has undergone substantial changes in recent years.

"Functional cure" for hepatitis B is moving from concept to clinical reality. Traditional nucleoside analogues can suppress viral replication, but struggle to eliminate cccDNA or achieve sustained off-treatment response. In recent years, novel mechanism drugs represented by small nucleic acid therapeutics (siRNA, ASO) — which silence viral antigen expression — have opened new pathways toward functional cure, with multiple candidates now in clinical stages both domestically and internationally.

Hepatitis C can already be cured — the challenge is "finding the patients." Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) achieve cure rates exceeding 95% for hepatitis C, (4) but insufficient coverage of testing and treatment remains the biggest gap worldwide — a shortfall repeatedly emphasized in this year's report.

Advances in liver cancer treatment directly determine the ultimate outcomes for hepatitis patients. Cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma are the leading causes of hepatitis-related death, and next-generation targeted therapeutic platforms such as ADCs (antibody-drug conjugates), DACs/MACs, are providing more treatment options for patients with advanced liver cancer. Cell and gene therapy (CGT) is also advancing steadily in exploration for liver cancer and chronic hepatitis B scenarios.

Antiviral mechanism innovation, testing and treatment accessibility, and iteration of liver cancer therapeutics — these three threads correspond respectively to the upstream, midstream, and downstream of viral hepatitis prevention and treatment, and also happen to be the areas where industry and investment circles have concentrated most heavily in recent years.

PART.03

The "Five Brothers" of Hepatitis

Before focusing on cutting-edge treatment approaches, let's clarify a fundamental point: hepatitis is not a single disease. Five different viruses — A, B, C, D, and E — cause five types of viral hepatitis (referred to as hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E respectively). In China, hepatitis B and C are the leading causes of cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Hepatitis A virus is primarily transmitted through contaminated food and water. Clinically, most hepatitis A cases are mild, with only a very small proportion progressing to liver failure; most patients recover with symptomatic supportive care. The key to eliminating hepatitis A lies in prevention.

Hepatitis B remains the leading type of hepatitis causing chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer in China. However, with advances in clinical diagnosis and treatment, as long as hepatitis B patients receive timely treatment and regular check-ups, in most cases the disease does not progress to cirrhosis or liver cancer, nor does it shorten life expectancy.

Hepatitis C is another important type of viral hepatitis causing chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis in China. In recent years, with breakthrough treatment advances, hepatitis C has become a relatively curable disease — clinically, it's essentially "find one, cure one." However, because the number of undetected patients remains substantial, there is still significant room for improvement in testing and screening.

Hepatitis D virus is a defective virus that can only replicate in the presence of hepatitis B virus, so generally one cannot contract hepatitis D without hepatitis B. If a hepatitis B patient is concurrently infected with hepatitis D, the disease tends to progress more rapidly, and the efficacy of antiviral therapy may be compromised.

Hepatitis E virus is similar to hepatitis A virus in that it is primarily transmitted through contaminated food and water. In recent years, the prevalence of hepatitis E has been rising globally. Infection generally presents as acute onset, and the vast majority of patients recover with treatment. However, immunocompromised individuals such as those with hematologic diseases or organ transplant recipients may develop chronic hepatitis following infection.

PART.04

Advancing Hepatitis Elimination with Efung Capital's Strength

Whether it's upstream antiviral mechanism innovation or downstream iteration of liver cancer therapeutics, both ultimately require patient capital and industrial commitment to move from the lab to the clinic and to patients. Since its founding in 2012, Efung Capital — as one of the earliest professional investment firms in China focused on the biopharmaceutical sector — has consistently invested in innovative enterprises with clinical value in hepatitis prevention and treatment, a major public health priority.

One of Efung Capital's portfolio companies, Tuwei Anchuang (TWAC) , is a biotech company dedicated to R&D of innovative drugs for organ fibrosis, anti-inflammation, and other major diseases. The company has independently developed proprietary innovative polypeptide drugs with intellectual property rights, with a product pipeline covering non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and related fibrosis, primary biliary cholangitis and related fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and renal fibrosis. Looking ahead, Efung Capital will continue to focus on hepatitis and liver disease treatment, connecting industry, academia, research, and application through capital to accelerate the translation of innovative therapies to clinical practice.

Sources:

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