INTRODUCTION
infection, HBV infections, infections
INFECTION, VIRUS, CHRONIC HEPATITIS, INFECTIONS
The global prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was estimated to be 296 million in 2019, with approximately 1.5 million new infections being reported each year (GSK3389404 is the N-acetyl galactosamine (GalNAc)-conjugated version of bepirovirsen (GSK3228836). Bepirovirsen is a 20-mer antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) against a shared region that is present in all HBV mRNAs and pregenomic RNA, and it is designed to reduce HBV DNA and the expression of the HBV surface antigen (HBsAg). Bepirovirsen is currently being investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of patients with chronic HBV infections (The first-in-human study of GSK3389404 (NCT02647281) assessed plasma pharmacokinetics (PK) and safety in healthy, predominantly Caucasian participants following single (10 mg, 30 mg, 60 mg, and 120 mg) and multiple (30 mg, 60 mg, and 120 mg weekly for 4 weeks) subcutaneous injections of GSK3389404 (No additional drug-related material was detected in the urine or plasma (A phase 2a study (NCT03020745) was conducted in participants with chronic HBV infections in Asia, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Singapore, to assess the safety, tolerability, and PK of single and multiple doses of GSK3389404 in participants with chronic HBV infections (The objectives of this analysis were to characterize the plasma PK of single and multiple GSK3389404 doses in Asian participants with chronic HBV infections from study NCT03020745 and to compare the GSK3389404 plasma PK across Asian-Pacific populations from mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the Philippines.