Sep 28, 2021 - World

Heritage imprint: A milestone from Chilean R&D

Marina E. Franco (Noticias Telemundo for Axios)

Picture of a screen that says Viral Hepatitis — A screen in Stockholm, Sweden, displays the work field of the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

Hepatitis B and C found a foe in biotech and medical researchers spearheaded or funded by a Chilean biochemist.

Why it matters: The work and research fostered by Pablo D. Valenzuela led to a groundbreaking vaccine-making technique and the treatment of those with hepatitis B or C, which each affect more than 1.5 million people worldwide every year, according the World Health Organization.

Details: Valenzuela, along with William Rutter and Edward Penhoet, founded the biotech firm Chiron in 1981.

With Valenzuela as head of research and development, scientists at Chiron in 1989 named the hepatitis C virus, which had puzzled doctors and researchers for years.
That research was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine last year.

In 1986, Chiron accomplished what’s been called a “milestone” and “a medical biotechnology landmark": the creation of the first approved recombinant vaccine.

The mechanism, patented by Valenzuela for hepatitis B, “clones” a virus so the immune response can be triggered with particles that don’t have the actual disease agent.
Until then, vaccines had mostly been developed with dead viruses, which made them difficult to produce since they sometimes required plasma from patients that was hard to get.
In several parts of the world, including the U.S., people can now be safely and effectively vaccinated against hepatitis B from infancy.

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Heritage imprint: A milestone from Chilean R&D

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