BAY 38-7690

Despite the availability of effective vaccines and treatments, HBV remains a significant global health concern, with more than 240 million individuals chronically infected. Current treatments are highly effective at controlling viral replication and disease progression but rarely cure infections. Therefore, much emphasis is being placed on finding therapeutics with new drug targets, such as viral gene expression, covalently closed circular DNA formation and stability, capsid formation, and host immune modulators, with the ultimate goal of an HBV cure. Understanding the mechanisms by which novel antiviral agents act will be imperative for the development of curative HBV therapies.