Hepatitis
Hepatitis B and C are the most significant forms of this frequently fatal disease of the liver. The most common of all serious liver infections, hepatitis B, kills approximately 600,000 people a year. Of the more than two billion people infected globally, the World Health Organization reports that about 350 million have chronic hepatitis B virus, which can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The World Health Organization estimates that 170 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C, and approximately three to four million persons are newly infected each year. Like chronic hepatitis B, chronic hepatitis C viral infection can lead to serious complications, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, and can necessitate liver transplantation.
While scientists have developed some effective therapies in recent years for hepatitis B and C, significant unmet medical needs still exist as a result of problems related to potency, resistance, and tolerability. Recognizing these needs, Bristol-Myers Squibb is working to provide new treatments for both forms of this very widespread, highly infectious disease.