Hot topics in prevention and control of viral hepatitis:

1) Vaccine shortage; 2) New hepatitis B Treatment.

March 15-16, 2018 - Lisbon, Portugal

Meeting objectives:

Part 1: Vaccine shortage

• Review the current hepatitis A en B vaccine supply constraints and the (potential) impact on public health;
• Investigate the role of different stakeholders;
• Investigate the manufacturing, storage, quality, packaging issues that may influence the availability of vaccines;
• Discuss the actions that are needed to avoid future vaccine shortages and minimize the impact of hepatitis vaccine supply constraints on public health;
• Discuss the need for prioritization guidelines to secure protection of those at highest risk in the case of shortage and identify key stakeholders to produce and disseminate such guidelines;
• Review the different initiatives taken to prevent vaccine shortages or to minimize the impact;
• Identify lessons learnt from previous vaccine shortage situations and discuss possible way forward.

Part 2: New Hepatitis B treatment

• Present an overview of the different new treatment compounds  that will be available in the (near) future and their impact on transmission, morbidity and mortality caused by hepatitis B
• Discuss response rate, potential safety issues of the new  hep B treatments and Moreover the implementation, the need for enforced screening and the impact on public health.
• Investigate the public health needs to implement hepatitis B treatment protocols in the European countries and the impact they will have on the WHO’s hepatitis elimination goals
• Discuss the synergies, competition and lessons learnt between /from hepatitis C treatment, all in a public health frame work
• Discuss how hepatitis B treatment articulates with hepatitis B vaccination programmes

Background document - 2.6Mb (.pdf)

Thursday 15 March

Part 1: Vaccine shortage

SESSION 1: OPENING AND OBJECTIVES
Chairs: Rui Tato Marinho – Pierre Van Damme

09:00 – 09:20

SESSION 2: VACCINE SHORTAGE _ DEFINITIONS

09:20 - 09:40 Definitions of vaccine shortages - 781Kb (.pdf)
Oleg Benes

09:40 - 09:50 Questions and discussion

SESSION 3: MANUFACTURING OF VACCINES, WHAT CAN INFLUENCE THE VACCINE SUPPLY, COMPLEXITY OF VACCINE MANUFACTURING

09:50 - 10:30 Vaccine Europe - 1.7Mb (.pdf)
Michel Stoffel

10:30 - 10:50 Questions and discussion

10:50 – 11:10 Coffee break

SESSION 4: HEPATITIS A AND B VACCINE SHORTAGE (POTENTIAL) IMPACT ON PUBLIC HEALTH
Chairs: Paolo Bonanni – Alessandro Zanetti

11:10 – 11:30 Survey among VHPB advisors: Current overview of hepatitis A and Hepatitis B vaccine shortage - 1.5Mb (.pdf)
VHPB Secretariat

EXAMPLES FROM THE FIELD

11:50 – 12:10 Germany – Paul Ehrlich Institute - 1.8Mb (.pdf)
Isabelle Bekeredjian-Ding

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12:10 – 12:30 The Netherlands – RIVM - 318kb (.pdf)
Truus de Graaf

12:50 – 13:10 Questions & Comments

13:10- 14:15 Lunch

SESSION 5: THE ROLE OF THE DIFFERENT EUROPEAN STAKEHOLDERS IN CASE OF VACCINE SHORTAGE
Chairs: Vladimir Chulanov – Angela Dominguez

14:15– 14:35 WHO - 2.3Mb (.pdf)
Oleg Benes

14:35 – 14:55 ECDC 
Tarik Derrough

14:55 – 15:15 EU MEDICINE AGENCY - EMA - 1.2Mb (.pdf)
Brendan Cuddy

15:15 – 15:30 Questions and discussion

15:35 – 15:55 Coffee break

SESSION 6: INITIATIVES TAKEN TO PREVENT VACCINE SHORTAGES OR TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT
Chairs: Mira Kojouharova – Antons Mozalevskis

15:55 – 16:15 UK – Public Health UK - Hepatitis B: Vaccine recommendations during supply constraints - 624Kb (.pdf)
Sema Mandal

16:15 – 16:35 USA – Tracking Vaccine shortages and ACIP recommendations - 840Kb (.pdf)
John Ward

16:35 – 16:45 Question and discussion

SESSION 7: PANEL DISCUSSION: ACTIONS THAT ARE NEEDED TO AVOID VACCINE SHORTAGE IN THE FUTURE AND TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT OF HEPATITIS VACCINE SUPPLY CONSTRAINTS ON PUBLIC HEALTH
Chairs: Johannes Hallauer – Daniel Lavanchy

16:45 – 18:00 Panel discussion/ Workshop

SESSION 8: CONCLUSIONS

18:00 – 18:15 Wrap up of the meeting Part 1: Vaccine Shortage - 571b (.pdf)
David FitzSimons

Friday 16 March

Part 2: New Hepatitis B treatment

SESSION 9: OVERVIEW NEW TREATMENT/TREATMENT STRATEGIES FOR HEPATITIS B IN THE PIPELINE
Chairs: Daniel Shouval – Fiona Godfrey

09:00 – 09:30 New treatment - Review based on: Novel targets for hepatitis B virus therapy. - 4.7Mb (.pdf)
Barbara Testoni

09:30 – 09:50 Treatment guidelines (EASL) - 740Kb (.pdf)
Pietro Lampertico

09:50 – 10:10 What is new on HBsAg and other diagnostic markers in HBV infection? - 1.7Mb (.pdf)
Christoph Höner zu Siederdissen

10:10 – 10:30 Questions & Comments

10:30 – 10:50 Coffee break

SESSION 10: IMPACT ON PUBLIC HEALTH OF NEW TREATMENTS AND HOW CAN POLICY MAKERS BE PREPARED
Chairs: Antons Mozalevskis – Helena Cortez-Pinto

10:50 – 11-10 Elimination of Hepatitis B: Is It a Mission Possible - 1.5Mb (.pdf)
Tai-Chung Tseng

11:10 – 11-30 The cost-effectiveness of hepatitis B case-finding interventions in the UK -1.5Mb (.pdf)
Jack Williams

11:30 – 11-50 Challenges in warranting access to prophylaxis and therapy for hepatitis B virus infection - 1Mb (.pdf)
Christoph Höner zu Siederdissen

11:50 – 12-10 Questions & Comments

SESSION 11: DISCUSSION SESSION INVESTIGATE THE PUBLIC HEALTH NEEDS TO IMPLEMENT HEPATITIS B TREATMENT PROTOCOLS IN THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND THE IMPACT THEY WILL HAVE ON THE WHO’S HEPATITIS ELIMINATION GOALS
Chairs: Mojca Matičič – Tatjana Reic

12:10 – 13-10 Panel discussion -1.5Mb (.pdf)

13:10 – 14-30 Lunch

SESSION 12: CONCLUSIONS OF THE MEETING
Chairs: Pierre Van Damme – Rui Tato Marinho

14:30 – 15:00 Wrap up of part 2: New Hepatitis B Treatment - 462b (.pdf)
David FitzSimons