Chris Mcguigan Drug Discovery Award For Heidelberg Virologist Stephan Urban

Prestigious award for the developer of the first approved drug against hepatitis D

On September 18, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Stephan Urban, DZIF Professor of Translational Virology at Heidelberg University’s Medical Faculty, was honored with the McGuigan Award for Distinguished Work in Drug Discovery. The prize, worth £10,000, recognizes Urban’s outstanding scientific achievement and the groundbreaking development of an active agent against hepatitis B and D—a successful translation from the laboratory to clinical application.

Prof. Urban has made a significant breakthrough in the field of hepatitis research. He has played a pivotal role in the development of a drug that has been successfully treating patients with hepatitis D for several years. “Hepcludex” (bulevirtide) prevents hepatitis D and B viruses from entering liver cells and, for the first time, effectively protects patients from the progression of liver disease. Urban’s initial goal was to elucidate the molecular processes involved in infections with hepatitis B viruses (HBV) and hepatitis D viruses (HDV). In the process, he discovered that a protein component from the virus envelope binds to a receptor on the liver cell that was unknown at the time.

Urban and his team artificially produced these parts of the envelope protein in the laboratory and succeeded in blocking the receptor and preventing hepatitis D and B viruses from entering the cell. The antiviral effect was confirmed in experimental and ultimately in clinical studies. The active agent bulevirtide was approved in Europe under the name Hepcludex© as the first drug for the treatment of chronic HDV infection, initially on a conditional basis in 2020 and finally on a permanent basis in 2023.

Career and research focus of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Stephan Urban

Prof. Urban completed a diploma in Biochemistry at the University of Tübingen in 1991 and received his doctorate in 1995 under Prof. Dr. P. H. Hofschneider at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University under Prof. Dr. H. Schaller. Following his PostDoc, he assumed the role of independent group leader, funded by the Chica & Heinz Schaller Foundation, and was appointed to the position of Assistant Professorat the Faculty of Biology in 2008.

Since 2014, Prof. Urban has held the first DZIF full professorship for Translational Virology of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). He currently heads Translational Virology in the Department of Molecular Virology at the Center for Infectiology at Heidelberg University and co-coordinates research on hepatitis virus infections in the DZIF research area “Hepatitis.”

Prof. Urban’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of interaction between hepatitis B and hepatitis D viruses and their host cells, particularly the early stages of viral infection. Other areas of work include the identification of hepadnavirus receptors, the structural analysis of virus-receptor interactions, the development of innovative cell culture systems for HBV and HDV, research into hepatotropic, i.e., liver-targeting, drugs for the treatment of liver diseases, and the investigation of the innate immune response against HBV and HDV. Prof. Urban has received several prestigious awards for his scientific achievements.

Further information: Chris McGuigan Drug Discovery Awards; News release from Heidelberg University Hospital (in German)