Central to iQur’s vision of personalised, tailored therapies and diagnostics for the treatment of liver disease, is our commitment to developing new treatments for serious liver disease. We aim to develop an holistic approach and, to this end, have active drug discovery research programmes in the following areas:

• Immunotherapeutics
• Antiviral therapies
• Antifibrosis research

The immunotherapeutic programme is focused on identifying new strategies to boost both the innate and adaptive immune response against the hepatitis C virus. Through a link with the Department of Microbiology at the University of Leeds, iQur staff in Leeds are also developing novel vaccines for viral hepatitis. Worldwide, no vaccine exists for hepatitis C and those that are available for hepatitis A and B have limited efficacy. The failure to generate a protective immune response is attributed to failure in education of the immune system to eliminate HCV. iQur uses a system that alerts the immune response to fragments of the virus in an 'immunogenic' context, thereby training it to eradicate infection. This effectively provides the immune system with a strong signal that allows it to learn how to deal with the virus. The work is currently in pre-clinical development and shows significant promise.

Read more about recent developments in iQur's vaccine research

The antiviral therapies programme is exploring novel chemistries to improve the efficacy and tolerability of antiviral drug formulations and to develop novel antiviral agents. Existing drugs used for the treatment of hepatitis C have a severe limitation caused by the side effect of anaemia. Although increased doses of drug are more effective at killing the virus, these amounts cannot be given to patients because of the anaemia they induce. iQur is developing a range of new chemical entities that have been shown to have significant anti-viral activity without this side effect.
 
The antifibrosis research programme builds upon the University of Southampton Liver Group’s extensive research experience in the field of liver fibrosis. Building upon established collaborations with the Liver Group we are developing novel therapeutic agents directed at reversing liver fibrosis, the common end-point of all chronic liver diseases. There is evidence that the process of scar formation can be inhibited at molecular level, which may offer a route to effective therapy.