As China's healthcare and policy environment continues to improve, global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is using the China International Import Expo (CIIE) to advance innovation in public health, enabling more people living with hepatitis B in China to benefit from its breakthroughs in prevention and treatment.

"We look forward to tapping into the spillover effects of the CIIE to play a deeper role in advancing hepatitis B prevention and treatment in China," Yu Huiming, general manager of GSK China, said at the "For a Future Without Hepatitis B" event held during the CIIE.

Zhao Lun, head of communications and government affairs at GSK China, said the company is accelerating efforts to develop a breakthrough antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapy that could offer a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B.

"As a multinational pharmaceutical company that has participated in the CIIE for eight years, we believe that China's healthcare and policy environment has been continuously improving," Zhao added.

In September 2025, China's National Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention, together with several other government departments, released the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis (2025-2030), which aims to ensure that by 2030, over 80 percent of people living with chronic hepatitis B are diagnosed and more than 80 percent of newly reported patients receive antiviral treatment.

Liang Xiaofeng, vice-president of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, said the introduction of the action plan reflects the government's strong policy commitment to fostering innovation in hepatitis prevention and treatment.

China currently has about 75 million people living with chronic HBV infection, according to estimates from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest national epidemiological survey on chronic viral hepatitis, conducted in 2020, found that the prevalence of HBsAg among the population had dropped to 5.86 percent, showing a clear downward trend.

However, Xu Xiegu, vice-president of the Chinese Foundation for Health Promotion, noted that treating the large number of existing patients remains a formidable challenge.

"We hope to see functional cure solutions become available soon, which would help ease the burden on both the public health system and patients," Liang said.

Zhang Chenxu contributed to the story.