An estimated 296 million people have chronic hepatitis B, of whom 221 million live in low- and middle-income countries. Without intervention, deaths from HBV are expected to peak at 1.14 million by 2035.

In three recent meta-analyses, the number of HDV-infected persons worldwide ranged from 12 million to 72 million, underscoring the heterogeneity of current epidemiologic data. Valid therapies to cure hepatitis D are an urgent need, and new therapeutic strategies are in development. Superinfections (with HBV) account for approximately 90% of cases of chronic HDV infection.

RBD1016 is a GalNAc-siRNA targeting highly conserved region of HBx and able to degrade all 4 transcripts concurrently.

RBD1016 started phase 2 in September 2023.

The compound has good safety profiles in both