Meeting report: 30th International Conference on Antiviral Research, in Atlanta, GA, USA

Vere Hodge, R Anthony

Gertrude Elion Memorial Award Lecture: Viral hepatitis -The search for a cure Michael (Mike) J Sofia, Arbutus Biopharma, Inc., Doylestown, PA, USA Michael Sofia (Mike) (Figure 1 ) first paid tribute to Trudy Elion. He had not known her personally but felt that he had gained an appreciation of her work on acyclovir (ACV) through his time working closely with Phil Furman (a Past-President of ISAR) who was part of Trudy's team. Viral hepatitis is a major, worldwide clinical problem, with about 170 million chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and 350 million with hepatitis B virus (HBV). In the USA, during the period 1999-2007, the burden of mortality with viral hepatitis due to HBV had been falling steadily (from six to four per 100,000 each year) whereas that due to HCV was rising (three to over four per 100,000 each year). In the same period, the mortality due to HIV was less than one per 100,000 each year. HCV has genotypes 1-6, genotype 1 being the most common in North and South America, Europe, Australasia and some parts of Asia, genotype 3 being most common in South Asia and all genotypes being found in differing proportions through Africa. When considering the prospects for finding a cure for HCV-infected patients, the high rates of HCV replication (10e 12 virions/day) and viral mutation (0.1-1 error per viral RNA synthesised) were seen as presenting a huge challenge. However, there was one aspect which offered hope; there was no known viral reservoir.