As a tangible progress resulted from the Hong Kong-Shanghai International Liver Congress ending Tuesday, an international group for Type-B hepatitis research was established in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong based international research group is made up with nine leading liver diseases experts from Hong Kong, Australia, Britain and the United States.

The establishment of the research group is aimed at speeding up research on effective prevention and treatment of Type-B hepatitis of Chinese people, with the help of advanced gene technology.

Gorge Lau, assistant dean of Faculty of Medicine of University of Hong Kong, said at the closing of the 4-day congress, largest of the kind in the Asia-Pacific region, that as the headquarters of the research group, Hong Kong would establish a Type-B hepatitis lab in the University of Hong Kong, as the university has laid a foundation for gene research and has rich experience in clinic research of the liver diseases.

He said US$1 million of fund is expected to be collected within one year to fund the programs of the group.

Scientists hope to seek the genetic clues for causing the liver diseases and find most effective therapies for treatment among numerous existing pharmaceuticals and therapies.

Lau said scientists also expect to learn much mature experience from the treatment of AIDS and Type-C hepatitis which share similarities with Type-B hepatitis. As scientists worldwide have made many efforts on treatment of AIDS and Type-C hepatitis, ways have been found for effective treatment of the diseases.

The international conference, held every four years, was titled "Liver Diseases in Functional-Genomic Era." It was jointly sponsored by Cheng Si-yuan Hepatitis Research Foundation, the Shanghai Organizing Committee, Asian Pacific Association for Study of the Liver and some other Hong Kong-base institutions.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2004)