SAN JOSE, Calif. — Liver specialist Maurizio Bonacini is in the race for a cure for hepatitis B, one of the world’s most widespread diseases and a top cause of liver cancer around the globe.

“It’s the last frontier,” said Dr. Bonacini, a San Francisco-based clinical researcher who has spent his career studying the chronic version of the disease estimated to affect more than 2 million people in the United States.

The World Health Organization estimates that one of three people worldwide has been infected by acute hepatitis B. The likelihood of developing chronic hepatitis B is higher for the young — the risk is 90% for babies with the bloodborne disease. When untreated, the virus progresses into liver cancer 25% of the time, killing one of four.

Although hepatitis B is both preventable w

See Full Page