The Emerging Role of China in the Innovation, Individualization, and Translation of Antiviral Therapeutics for Chronic Hepatitis B

ABSTRACT Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains a major global health burden, and functional cure—sustained hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss, with or without antibody to HBsAg seroconversion, and undetectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA after treatment cessation—remains uncommon. China is moving from disease control toward therapeutic innovation and evidence generation. Bepirovirsen provides the first Phase III benchmark for finite therapy, but most biomarker‐selected patients did not achieve functional cure. China‐origin and China‐led programs are expanding across antigen‐lowering and immune‐modulating mechanisms, with both promising and negative results. This Perspective examines China's contribution to HBV drug development, individualized treatment, regulatory evaluation, real‐world translation, and endpoint refinement.