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Nomenclature of HBV core protein-targeting antivirals

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 19, pages 748–750 (2022)Cite this article

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Hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein-targeting compounds are in or entering clinical development without a standardized nomenclature. We propose a naming convention for these core-targeting antiviral products to provide clarity and accelerate HBV drug development.

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Fig. 1: Mode of action of CAMs supporting the proposed nomenclature.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Fabien Zoulim, Adam Zlotnick.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hepatology Department, INSERM Unit 1052, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon University, Lyon, France

    Fabien Zoulim

  2. Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Adam Zlotnick

  3. Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, BfArM, Bonn, Germany

    Stephanie Buchholz

  4. US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Eric Donaldson

  5. Aligos Therapeutics, San Francisco, CA, USA

    John Fry

  6. Arrive Bio, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Anuj Gaggar

  7. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA

    Jianming Hu

  8. Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Michael Kann

  9. Department of Clinical Microbiology, Region Västra Götaland, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Michael Kann

  10. Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Beerse, Belgium

    Oliver Lenz

  11. Aerium Therapeutics, Boston, MA, USA

    Kai Lin

  12. Arbutus Biopharma Inc., Department of Biology, Warminster, PA, USA

    Nagraj Mani

  13. Department of Medicine II, Freiburg University Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Michael Nassal

  14. Assembly Biosciences, South San Francisco, CA, USA

    William Delaney

  15. Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, RWJBarnabas-Rutgers Medical Group, Livingston, NJ, USA

    Su Wang

  16. Swedish Medical Products Agency, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Gabriel Westman

  17. The Forum for Collaborative Research, Washington, DC, USA

    Veronica Miller

  18. Department of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands

    Harry L. A. Janssen

  19. Toronto Centre for Liver Disease, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Harry L. A. Janssen

Authors
  1. Fabien Zoulim
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  2. Adam Zlotnick
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  3. Stephanie Buchholz
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  4. Eric Donaldson
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  5. John Fry
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  6. Anuj Gaggar
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  7. Jianming Hu
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  8. Michael Kann
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  9. Oliver Lenz
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  10. Kai Lin
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  11. Nagraj Mani
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  12. Michael Nassal
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  13. William Delaney
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  14. Su Wang
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  15. Gabriel Westman
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  16. Veronica Miller
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  17. Harry L. A. Janssen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabien Zoulim.

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Competing interests

F.Z. has received grants from Assembly Biosciences, Beam, Janssen and Viravaxx and is also a consultant for Assembly, Aligos, Antios, Arbutus, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen and Vir Biotechnology. A.Z. has equity in Assembly Biosciences and serves on their scientific advisory board. A.Z. is also a founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Door Pharmaceutical. J.F. is an employee of Aligos Therapeutics. A.G. is a former employee and current stakeholder of Gilead Sciences. J.H. has been supported by funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease/NIH and Gilead for work relevant here and has consulted for Arbutus, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, Janssen, Roche and Sanofi. O.L. is an employee of Janssen and is a shareholder of Johnson & Johnson. N.M. is an employee of Arbutus Biopharma. W.D. is an employee at Assembly Biosciences and owns stock in Assembly Biosciences and Gilead. S.W. has received funding from Gilead. V.M. receives grant funding for the HBV Forum from Abbott, Aligos Therapeutis, Altimmune, Antios Therapeutics, Assembly Biosciences, Enanta Pharma, Enyo Pharma, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Immunocore, Janssen, Monogram Biosciences, Quest Diagnostics, RFS Family Foundation, Roche, VenatorX, Vir Biotechnology and Virion. H.L.A.J. has received grants from AbbVie, Gilead, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Roche and Vir Biotechnology, and is also a consultant for Aligos, Antios, Arbutus, Eiger, Gilead Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Merck, Roche, VBI Vaccines, Vir Biotechnology and Viroclinics. S.B., E.D., M.K., K.L., M.N. and G.W. declare no competing interests.

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Zoulim, F., Zlotnick, A., Buchholz, S. et al. Nomenclature of HBV core protein-targeting antivirals. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 19, 748–750 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-022-00700-z

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