The heritage of hepatitis B vaccine

R. G. Douglas Jr
Merck Vaccine Division, Merck & Co Inc, Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889-0100, USA.

Pioneering development of the plasma-derived and yeast-derived recombinant hepatitis B vaccines represents a major contribution to preventive health care of this century. Current and expanding worldwide application of hepatitis B vaccine promises to eliminate and eventually eradicate hepatitis B infection from the human population and, with it, many cases of cirrhosis and cancer of the liver.