u/Classic_Guard_6483

Hi friends, I hope everyone is having a good day.

I am a mod on r/HerpesCureResearch a community composed primarily of patient advocates dedicated to spreading awareness and tracking the latest scientific developments regarding the herpes simplex virus and other types of herpesviruses. As many of you may know, HSV is a lifelong neurological infection for which there is no cure, and has a number of negative effects.

Recently we have noticed a lot of positive signals coming from China regarding this field, for example there is a gene editing program known as BDGene currently in late stage clinical trials, whereas the American equivalent of this technology is languishing in preclinical purgatory, due to lack of funding. There are other projects as well, but BDGene’s project is the most interesting one. In addition, China recently announced a 5 year pharmaceutical development plan for 2026-2030, which emphasized the intent to invest in first in class therapies.

Overall China seems poised to find a cure first, or at least significantly more effective treatment, for this virus which has plagued humanity for millions of years. Our community has been buzzing with excitement as we watch these developments unfold, and many people are already discussing possible medical tourism in case this medicine makes it to Chinese market first.

So, with all of that in mind, I wanted to ask the fine people here who may live or have lived in China, if they have any thoughts on this subject, and on HSV and medical tourism in general. For example is HSV common in China? How does society view it? I am very curious to know about how Chinese society views HSV, and if there are any patient advocacy groups we can communicate and collaborate with? I have been using AI to search Chinese language internet but I haven’t had much luck or I don’t know where to look.

Thank you for reading and we welcome any thoughts or comments.

Good morning everyone

On October 9th, a new modification appeared on the CTIS page for the IM-250 trial.

IM-202 1b/2a genital herpes trial received a new non substantial modification (NSM-9) on October 9th, decision was made in the same day and it seems to have been approved. This NSM seems to have concerned the Bulgarian location of the trial.

What it actually contains and modifies is not public, and we can’t actually see it, but we now know there was activity in the trial yesterday.

Thoughts? Thanks for reading. Please consider writing your representative about expediting HSV treatment or reach out to me if interested in advocacy.

Hi friends, very happy to finally see empire earth on steam and I copped it immediately. I’m playing on steam deck and it crashes every now and then, I set up the auto save to fire every 5 minutes so that helped but it’s still annoying. Does anyone have any fixes? Thank you.

China has released its 2026–2030 pharmaceutical industry plan, a five-year national strategy jointly issued by ten government departments. The plan lays out which areas of drug research, biotechnology, manufacturing and medical technology China wants to prioritize through 2030. Its overall goal is to push China’s pharmaceutical industry toward more original and breakthrough medicines, with major infectious diseases specifically identified as an important area for innovation. China also set measurable goals: by 2030 it wants its biomedical research and development to rank among the world’s leaders, innovative-drug development to grow by more than 20% per year, and Chinese FIC (first-in-class) drugs—medicines based on genuinely new targets or mechanisms—to account for at least 25% of the global total.

For the herpes community, one of the most interesting parts is the emphasis on new drug targets and new mechanisms of action. The plan specifically calls for medicines that attack previously difficult-to-drug targets, interfere with disease-related host factors, alter gene transcription and regulation, or control RNA function. In simple terms, China wants researchers to look beyond traditional ways of treating disease and develop drugs that interfere with disease biology in fundamentally different ways. That is particularly relevant to HSV research, where much of the interest is now in treatments that go beyond conventional DNA-polymerase inhibitors such as acyclovir and valacyclovir.

Gene editing is another major priority. The plan calls for the development of new gene-editing systems and, importantly, technologies for delivering those gene editors inside the body. It also calls for broader development of precision molecular delivery. For HSV research, this is especially interesting because HSV establishes latency inside nerve cells, so a genetic treatment ultimately needs both machinery capable of targeting viral DNA and a way of getting that machinery into the appropriate cells. China is therefore prioritizing research into both sides of that technological problem: the editing tools themselves and how to deliver them.

Another important area is the machinery needed to actually deliver genetic medicines. The plan specifically prioritizes AAV (adeno-associated virus) vectors for delivering genes inside the body and LNPs (lipid nanoparticles) for delivering nucleic-acid medicines. It also identifies the large-scale manufacturing of gene-therapy viral vectors as a technology that China wants moved further toward practical use. In simple terms, the plan is concerned not only with inventing genetic treatments, but also with developing the vehicles that carry them into cells and the manufacturing technology required to produce those treatments at scale.

The plan also specifically prioritizes brain-targeted drug-delivery systems and advanced ways of getting medicines into difficult tissues. It calls for liposomes, polymer nanoparticles, long-acting formulations and delivery systems that release their drugs in response to particular conditions inside the body. From an HSV perspective, improved delivery into nervous tissue is particularly interesting because HSV persists in the nervous system, and getting sufficient concentrations of a therapeutic agent to the relevant neural tissue is an important challenge for treatments intended to act closer to latent infection.

China is also putting substantial emphasis on RNA medicines, including siRNA (small interfering RNA) and ASO (antisense oligonucleotide) drugs. These are short pieces of genetic material designed to interfere with specific RNA instructions inside cells. Instead of attacking a viral protein after it has already been produced, for example, an RNA-based treatment can potentially interfere with the instructions used to produce that protein. The plan places these medicines among its priority new drug technologies and calls for their development and industrialization.

Vaccines are another priority. China calls for development of new mRNA vaccines, recombinant vaccines, combination vaccines, new vaccine adjuvants and new ways of administering vaccines. Of particular interest to the herpesvirus community, the plan explicitly names herpes zoster (shingles) as one of the indications targeted for new mRNA vaccine development, which could possibly help us understand HSV better.

The plan also places major infectious diseases among the areas where China wants more original drug development and calls for maintaining technological reserves of vaccines and therapeutics against major emerging infectious diseases. At the same time, it wants pharmaceutical companies to pursue both FIC drugs and BIC (best-in-class) drugs—the latter meaning drugs designed to outperform existing treatments in the same general class. The emphasis is therefore on producing more genuinely novel medicines rather than relying primarily on copies or incremental modifications of existing drugs.

China also wants to make the process of discovering these medicines faster. The plan calls for pharmaceutical companies, universities, research institutes and hospitals to work together on advanced technologies and specifically promotes AI-assisted drug discovery, computational medicine, large biological datasets, organoids and organ-on-chip systems. Organoids are tiny laboratory-grown models of human tissues, while organ-on-chip systems attempt to reproduce aspects of how human organs behave on small laboratory devices. These technologies can allow potential drugs and biological mechanisms to be investigated more efficiently before or alongside conventional clinical development.

Taken together, the parts of the plan most relevant to HSV research represent a substantial Chinese push into new antiviral mechanisms, gene editing and in-body gene-editor delivery, precision delivery into the nervous system, RNA therapeutics, AAV and nanoparticle delivery, scalable gene-therapy manufacturing, next-generation herpesvirus vaccines, first-in-class medicines and technologies intended to move experimental treatments from discovery toward practical pharmaceutical development.

New study from this month that examines the association between multiple sclerosis and herpesviruses.

“Conclusion: This case-control study confirmed the established association between EBV and increased multiple sclerosis risk and suggested a potential protective association between prior CMV infection and multiple sclerosis. No evidence was found linking prior HSV infection to multiple sclerosis.”

Personal opinion: yet another diseases associated with herpesviruses. While HSV isn’t associated with MS, EBV ( Epstein Barr Virus or HHV-4), another herpesvirus which is extremely common, estimated to infect 90-95% of people worldwide, is associated with MS. EBV infects the lymphocytes and like HSV remains there for life, sometimes causing complications. In a 2022 study that examined over 10 US military personnel, it was found that risk of MS increased 32 fold following EBV infection, so EBV is a significant factor.

This is another disease that could possibly be prevented for some people if we had more significant treatment options for herpesviruses, the benefits of curing or strongly suppressing this virus will have enormous reverberations on human health for eons to come. We must all advocate for a herpes cure and perhaps attempt to do so cross sectionally, I may try to raise awareness about herpes on MS subs, I invite you to do the same.

New mechanistic paper dates 09/10/2026.

Researchers found that after mice were infected with HSV-1 and the infection became latent, M1 macrophages were left with lasting changes in how their DNA is packaged.

Macrophages are immune cells that patrol tissues, detect infections and damage, engulf and digest pathogens and cellular debris, and release chemical signals that recruit and activate other parts of the immune system. M1 macrophages are generally associated with a more inflammatory, pathogen-fighting state.

After HSV-1 infection, certain regions of DNA inside these M1 macrophages became more accessible, including a region associated with Irgm1, an immune-defense gene. This effectively left the cells “primed.” When researchers exposed them to HSV-1 again, the previously exposed M1 macrophages produced a stronger inflammatory and antiviral response than macrophages that had never encountered HSV. M2 macrophages did not show the same effect.

Importantly, researchers found these altered M1 macrophages inside the trigeminal ganglia, the nerve clusters where HSV-1 establishes lifelong latency. This means HSV infection leaves behind not only latent viral DNA inside neurons, but also long-lasting changes to immune cells occupying the same tissue.

My personal caveat: I don’t necessarily think this heightened immune response is entirely beneficial. A stronger inflammatory response may help keep HSV under control, but persistent or excessive inflammation can also damage surrounding tissue. Therefore, it would be important to determine whether these persistently primed macrophages contribute to chronic inflammation or nerve-related damage during HSV latency rather than assuming that stronger immune activity is automatically beneficial.

New research published yesterday. It is a longitudinal study of 386,249 people that has found that patients with a clinically recorded HSV-1 diagnosis had a 14% higher adjusted hazard of later cognitive impairment/dementia

New mechanistic paper from yesterday

Any recommendations for a remote mansion or ranch preferably nicely built and large, which I can base out of? I’m currently basing in the Delilah but my generator caught on fire and burned half the ship down, thankfully it was raining and it put itself out but the Delilah is damaged :( I’ve been looking to get into farming and raising animals as well so it might be time to move. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Hi everyone, there is yet another substantial development out of China regarding herpes research in general. Just to be clear this is a cancer medicine that utilizes HSV as a vector not an HSV medicine.

BS001/OH2 is a Chinese medicine that is being developed by Wuhan Binhui Biopharmaceutical. It is a genetically engineered HSV2 virus, modified by deleting the genes encoding ICP34.5 which is an important neurovirulence factor, basically attenuating it to target cancer cells, and by deleting the gene encoding ICP47 which is one of the HSV mechanisms help it evade immune response. Finally, they inserted a human gene GM-CSF, which is an immune signaling protein that activates immune cells.

The result of all that is basically a reprogrammed herpes virus, which targets cancer cells, replicates inside until the cancer cell ruptures, allowing the modified virus to then target adjacent cancer cells.

This medicine is being investigated against multiple cancers, including the following:

Metastatic melanoma after prior treatment: phase III in China and the USA

Metastatic colorectal cancer: phase III in the USA cleared initiation in September 2025

Metastatic glioblastoma: phase I/II

Soft tissue sarcoma: phase II

Metastatic biliary tract cancer: Phase II

There is also a newer generation of this medicine, BS006, which is supposed to work even better, in phase I in the USA currently.

The important takeaway for us as HSV patients is that progress is proceeding and we are learning more about this disease more every day, I have a feeling that we will soon be able to overcome it. Stay hopeful friends, and thanks for reading. 🙏🏻

Not sure wtf this means but it’s in very early development. Likely not significant for us as patients but I’m making it a policy to post every research update concerning HSV. People need hope and need to know work is actively underway 🙏🏻

New research posted today comparing Pritelivir to Foscarnet

Hi everyone. It’s been quiet this week and there hasn’t been a lot of updates from clinical trials.

I wanted to discuss with the esteemed members of the group ways we can make HSV more visible in common discourse. HSV affects billions of people worldwide, yet the amount of people keeping up with research updates here seems relatively small in comparison. We need to draw more attention to this disease and help build a platform (or platforms) from which we can raise funds for research and advocate for our interests, such as increased government funding and investment, expedited trials, and so on. We as patients need to be on the forefront of this effort.

Towards this end, I have been trying to come up with some ideas to make this happen. I invite everyone reading to consider joining me in these attempts and to comment below any ideas of your own.

1. I have reached out to several YouTubers who specialize in posting long form video essays about medical subjects, the channels in question are Patrick Kelly (@PatKellyTeaches), Healing History (@Healing_History), and Medlife Crisis (@MedlifeCrisis). These channels post high quality educational videos that are easy for the casual watcher to understand and get millions of videos, unfortunately they have not covered herpes. In general there are no high production value videos on YouTube discussing HSV and its long and complicated history, this can be a juicy subject for a fascinating video for any content creator. I’ve reached out to these channels by both commenting and messaging them via instagram, I invite you dear reader to maybe also leave a comment or a message politely asking them to consider covering HSV. If anyone has any more channel suggestions comment who would cover this sort of thing, comment them as well. Alternatively, I invite anyone reading this to consider content creation around HSV.

2. Reach out to your representative. We have to make our need for urgent treatment known to the authorities. Please consider reaching out to your congressional representatives, with a message briefly explaining what HSV is and what your experience with it is, and kindly ask to increase funding for research, and make treatments more accessible to people. Make sure to highlight the growing need for treatment and cure as HSV seropositivity is projected to rise over the coming years. Consider asking your friends and families could also write a message to your representative.

3. Local advocacy. While advocating in person requires significant preparation, organization, and multiple people, many of us can advocate locally from home, by reaching out to local news channels, newspapers, student papers, etc and ask them to consider covering herpes. The goal of all of this is to draw more attention and get more people talking about this subject.

If anyone has any other ideas I would love to hear them. If anyone would like to help me advocate comment below. Thank you for reading.

Hi everyone, in an effort to keep everyone informed of the Adibelivir trial updates - no matter how minute - and to generate more activity on the sub, I will be posting every minor update obtained by checking the CTIS (Clinical Trial Information System) which is a digital platform maintained by the EMA (European Medicine Agency) for basically cataloging clinical trial information. By using it, we can see some of the updates being made to the clinical trial, and infer some things from them.

Most recently, there was an update to the parenteral version meant for HSV encephalitis, licensed by Alfasigma, which is currently in Phase 1, set to recruit 30 patients in Bulgaria.

Three days ago on August 24th the CTIS received NSM-5 (non-substantial modification number 5). What this modification changes is not yet public, but it demonstrates that work is actively proceeding on all fronts by Innovative Molecules. Like I said I will do my best to keep everyone updated on this, I implore those reading to do your best to advocate as well, by writing your congressman, senator, or consider local advocacy.

Hi everyone, I’ve found yet another HSV treatment undergoing development in China. Is anyone keeping track of all of these? There’s been more than 5. This one is for HSV2 and it’s in preclinical stage so like a decade away but it appears that China is developing several treatments.

“According to the EU Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) record for trial 2024-516368-27-00 (IM-202), the ongoing European Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of IM-250 (adibelivir) for genital HSV-2 was updated twice in early August 2026. On August 4, regulators approved the addition of Estonia as a second trial country alongside Bulgaria, with 40 participants planned there and total planned enrollment rising to 232 people. Then, on August 6, the sponsor filed another administrative trial update called a non-substantial modification (NSM-8). CTIS does not publicly explain exactly what that second change involved, but the trial is still listed as authorized and recruiting, with no public indication of a suspension or safety-related halt.”

It appears that IM-250 trial is expanding to Estonia. I wonder what the other update might be.

Guys, I can't believe this, every time I search more I find more stuff in China that isn't being reported on and I can't find information on easily despite trying all day for months.

Apparently, according to several Chinese pharmaceutical news websites, including Pharmcube which is a reputable Chinese source, BDGene announced in April that they have initiated early IND enabling work for their Genital Herpes candidate, BD115.

BDGene is the same company which is developing a HSK gene therapy which was reported to have succeeded in clearing HSV from the ganglia and curing ocular herpes, though their HSK program BD111 remains in Phase 2 until the end of this year.

Interestingly, I can't find mentions of BD115 on BDGene's own website, however several Chinese news sources reported on it.

According to ChatGPT, BDGene has several active patents that describe a gene therapy against HSV. ChatGPT says and I quote

“According to BDGene’s HSV gene-therapy patent (CN115927473B / WO2024011980), the genital-herpes program believed to correspond to BD115 uses BDGene’s virus-like-particle delivery system to transiently deliver Cas9 mRNA and guide RNAs targeting the essential HSV genes UL52 and UL8. The goal is to cut and permanently disable HSV DNA rather than merely suppress viral replication while a drug is present. BDGene’s patent reports that this UL52/UL8 combination inhibited both HSV-1 and HSV-2 in laboratory experiments. According to PharmCube (医药魔方), April 2, 2026, BDGene’s genital-herpes candidate is called BD115 and had begun the IND application process, although an official CDE IND acceptance or human trial has not yet been publicly verified.”

Again I can’t read Chinese but I’m using chatGPT to search the internet and it’s saying that a new Chinese mRNA vaccine - ARP02 - was unveiled last month, being developed by Nanjing Auro Biotechnology (never heard of them but again I have 0 knowledge about china). This is still even before phase 1 and I think it’s in IND enabling phase.

According to ChatGPT they had animal results on mice which were “very strong”, it says that there was 100% survival in vaccinated groups vs 0% in control groups.

So far, this means China has several projects worth paying attention to

ARP02 - therapeutic HSV2 mRNA vaccine - IND enabling phase

LVRNA101 - prophylactic HSV2 mRNA vaccine - phase 1

UB-621 - Monoclonal antibody vaccine - phase 1 complete

HN0037 - Episodic interventional HPI - phase 2 complete, granted expedited review

BDGene - Ocular herpes CRISPR gene editing - Phase 2

Please everyone I implore you to also search and post what you can find so everyone can benefit 🙏🏻 ChatGPT doesn’t always show me everything, for example, I’ve been asking it to search for news every day but it missed this ARP thing for a whole month. The more people searching the better.