The University of Hong Kong has been working on a new hepatitis B drug, with the aim of freeing patients from lifelong medication.

Currently, patients have to take pills continuously to prevent the viral infection from causing cirrhosis or even liver cancer.

Professor Yuen Man-fung, who leads the university's hepatology department and the research, said on Monday that although the “relatively cheap” traditional drug for hepatitis B costs less than HK$1 a day, patients in general don't comply with the strict regime for the medication because they know they have to take it throughout their lives.

He said the new drug "removes the agents that suppress the immune system" reawakening the immune cells to take over control of the hepatitis B virus.

“If we can successfully treat it with the new drug," Yuen said, reawakening the immune system to control the virus, then "patients can be taken off from lifelong medication while maintaining the suppression of the virus throughout their lives.”

The team has conducted a clinical trial involving over 400 patients around the world, but only one in ten achieved “functional cure,” meaning they have been off treatment for two years after taking the new pills.

Yuen admitted that's “not ideal”, but added that “at least this is the newest agent proven to be effective,” and his researchers are making progress towards a 30-percent success rate - the target the team has set for seeking the approval of health authorities to make the pills available to the public.

“I’m quite optimistic. Because we now have so many new drugs, adding through different pathways against the virus and also stimulating the immune system. So I have a very high expectation in the coming say three to five years, we can achieve a certain percentage of patients with a functional cure,” he said.