Gilead Sciences hopes to end hepatitis B

Global biopharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences Inc has reaffirmed its commitment to curing hepatitis, and with it, helping sufferers in China, a country with one third of all the world's hepatitis B carriers.

Due to its population, China is crucial to the firm, said Rogers Luo, vice-president of Gilead and general manager of Gilead China, in a media briefing, adding that new research and development initiatives are likely to come to the country soon.

For over 30 years, California-based Gilead has sunk billions of dollars into the R&D of anti-hepatitis drugs. Breakthroughs mean that one strand, hepatitis C, can already be completely cured. The firm says its goal now is to find a permanent cure for hepatitis B.