Hydrophobic Modified Pres-Derived Peptides of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Their Use as Vehicles for the Specific Delivery of Compounds to the Liver

A hydrophobic modified preS-derived peptide of hepatitis B virus (HBV) of the formula

• [Hm—P—Rn]A0
• wherein
• P is said preS-derived peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of the HBV preS consensus sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO. 1 or variants thereof, wherein variants are selected from N-terminally and/or C-terminally truncated variants of at least 14 consecutive amino acids of SEQ ID NO. 1;
• amino acid substitution or deletion variants;
• variants comprising modified amino acid(s), unnatural amino acid(s) or peptidomimetic(s);
• H is said hydrophobic modification of the preS-derived peptide P, which is
• N-terminal of P and selected from acylation, preferably with carboxylic acids, fatty acids, C8 to C22 fatty acids, amino acids lipophilic side chains, and addition of hydrophobic moieties selected from cholesterol, derivatives of cholesterol, phospholipids, glycolipids, glycerol esters, steroids, ceramids, isoprene derivatives, adamantane, farnesol, aliphatic groups, polyaromatic compounds,
• m is at least 1,
• R is a C-terminal modification of said preS-derived peptide P, which is a moiety that protects from degradation selected from amide, D-amino acid, modified amino acid, cyclic amino acid, albumin, natural and synthetic polymer,
• n is 0 or at least 1,
• A is an anchor group, selected from ester, ether, disulfide, amide, thiol, thioester, and
• o is 0 or at least 1.