Drugs currently being tested to treat hepatitis C may also work on hepatitis E by blocking the virus from replicating.
Hepatitis E infects millions of people worldwide and causes approximately 70,000 deaths each year. Despite its impact, there is still no approved vaccine or targeted therapy. This situation may soon change with the discovery of bemnifosbuvir, a compound with potent activity against hepatitis E virus (HEV).
An international research team from Bochum and Heidelberg, Germany, and Beijing, China, identified the drug while screening a collection of antiviral compounds. Bemnifosbuvir belongs to a class of molecules known as nucleotide/nucleoside analogs. It is already in clinical trials for hepatitis C, so scientists hope it can be repurposed more quickly as a treatment for hepatitis E. Their findings were published in an academic journal. intestine March 6, 2026.
How drugs block viral replication
The researchers began by analyzing a library of commercially available nucleotide/nucleoside analogs designed to mimic the building blocks of genetic material. “These synthetically produced molecules are constructed similarly to the building blocks of our genetic material and the building blocks of viruses,” explains Dr. Mara Krohn from Ruhr-University Bochum.
To identify promising candidates, the team tested about 500 compounds using a specially engineered hepatitis E virus that generates a fluorescent signal. They infected cell cultures with this modified virus and then treated the cells with various compounds. By tracking the fluorescence, they could quickly determine whether the virus was continuing to replicate.
“We were able to confirm that using bemnifosbuvir, the virus no longer replicated and that the treated cells remained healthy,” reports Jungen Hu from the University of Heidelberg. Follow-up studies in animals confirmed that the drug reduced both viral activity and liver inflammation.
“If the ongoing clinical trials of bemnifosbuvir for hepatitis C are successful, the drug could soon be used off-label for hepatitis E,” said Dr Bemnifosbuvir and Professor Eik Steinman.
Hepatitis E risks and lack of treatment
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the main cause of acute viral hepatitis. Although many infections resolve on their own in people with healthy immune systems, the virus can become chronic in people with weakened immune systems, such as organ transplant recipients and people infected with HIV. There are also significant risks during pregnancy.
The disease was first recorded in a major outbreak in 1955-1956, but it took several decades before it became a major focus of scientific research. To date, there is still no vaccine or specific antiviral therapy available.
International cooperation and research support
The study involved the Department of Molecular Medicine and Virology at Ruhr University Bochum, Dao Ti’s laboratory at the Center for Integrative Infectious Disease Research (CIID) at Heidelberg University Hospital, and Lin Wang’s laboratory at Peking University in China.
This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFC2306900), the research program “Antiviral Therapy” of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation, the German Research Foundation within the Collaborative Research Center 1129 (project number 240245660), the German Center for Infectious Disease Research – TTU Hepatitis Project 05.823, the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (L244032), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. (82522053).
