AusperBio Reports Hepatitis B Cure Lasting 15 Months
Long-term follow-up data show a functional cure of chronic hepatitis B maintained after stopping treatment with its investigational therapy AHB-137.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Life Sciences
Live Poll
Would you trust a one-time hepatitis B treatment if it let you stop lifelong medication?
AusperBio announced long-term follow-up data from Study AB-10-8004 showing functional cure of chronic hepatitis B maintained for up to 15 months after stopping all HBV treatment. The data cover both nucleos(t)ide analogue-treated and treatment-naïve participants receiving the investigational antisense oligonucleotide therapy AHB-137.
Why it matters
Chronic hepatitis B affects an estimated 240 million people worldwide, and current therapies rarely achieve a functional cure, so sustained off-treatment control is a significant clinical question. The results add durability evidence for an approach that has not yet been approved by any regulatory authority.
The evidence is long-term follow-up from a small investigational study, with 34 NA-treated and 11 treatment-naïve participants and functional cure maintained for up to 15 months after stopping treatment. Because the cohorts are small and AHB-137 remains unapproved, the durability of these results in larger populations has not yet been established.
The players
AusperBio
AusperBio is a biopharmaceutical company developing AHB-137 through its proprietary Med-Oligo antisense oligonucleotide platform.
The Liver Meeting 2026
The Liver Meeting is the annual scientific meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, a leading forum for hepatology research.
The details
AHB-137 is designed to target hepatitis B virus RNAs, suppress hepatitis B surface antigen production, and inhibit viral DNA replication, and was developed on the company's proprietary Med-Oligo ASO platform. The treatment-naïve cohort received 16 weeks of AHB-137 monotherapy followed by 24 weeks without HBV treatment, and AHB-137 is currently in a Phase 3 trial in China.
Timeline
November 5, 2026: AusperBio announced the long-term follow-up data.
November 5-9, 2026: The Liver Meeting 2026 is held in Denver, Colorado.
November 8, 2026: Two late-breaking oral presentations of the data are scheduled.
Health Landscape
Hepatitis B remains a major global burden, with about 1.2 million new infections each year and roughly 300,000 deaths annually in China alone from chronic HBV. Results like these add to the long effort to move chronic hepatitis B beyond suppression toward a functional cure.
For the roughly 240 million people living with chronic hepatitis B worldwide, a durable functional cure would be a major change from long-term suppressive treatment. AHB-137 has not been approved by any regulatory authority, so these results do not yet change available treatment options.
The takeaway
Sustained control after stopping treatment is the key measure for hepatitis B therapies, and this durability data is an early signal worth watching as larger studies proceed. Readers should treat the findings as investigational until regulatory review is complete.
What happens next
Two late-breaking oral presentations of the study data are scheduled at The Liver Meeting 2026 on November 8, 2026.
Further reading
For broader context on laboratory and clinical research, explore more in Life Sciences.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Mohave Valley Daily News.
Live Poll
Would you trust a one-time hepatitis B treatment if it let you stop lifelong medication?
