Hepatitis B Foundation names Baruch S. Blumberg Prize winner
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The Hepatitis B Foundation has awarded Stephen Urban, PhD, the 2023 Baruch S. Blumberg Prize for his development of bulevirtide, the first drug approved for the treatment of hepatitis D.
“The entire hepatitis B/D community owes a tremendous debt to Dr. Urban for his conception, design and creation of new therapeutics for hepatitis B and D, as well as for his pioneering work on basic science advances toward understanding HBV and HDV virology,” Chari Cohen, DrPH, MPH, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation, told Healio.
Approved by the European Commission in July 2020, Urban, the head of translational virology in the department of infectious diseases and molecular virology at Heidelberg University Hospital, and his team, designed bulevirtide (Gilead) to block the entry of HBV and HDV into the liver cell which prevents patients with co-infection from progressing to serious liver disease. Often, this progression to cirrhosis and liver cancer results in the need for liver transplantation.
“This new drug offers hope to millions of people worldwide,” Cohen added. “Dr. Urban’s contribution to hepatitis B and D is some of the most important in the field and builds on the legacy of Baruch S. Blumberg, MD, DPhil, a Nobel Laureate and groundbreaking, innovative clinician scientist.”
The press release noted this award is the ‘highest honor’ one can receive from the Hepatitis B Foundation.
The prize will be presented to Urban at the Hepatitis B Foundation Gala on March 10, 2023, in Warrington, Pennsylvani.
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