Researchers from Janssen Pharmaceutica NV have reported the discovery of novel hepatitis B virus (HBV) capsid assembly modulators (CAMs) as potential therapeutic candidates against HBV infection. Synthesis and optimization of a new series of di-fluoro azepane HBV CAMs resulted in the identification of compound [I] as the lead candidate with DNA EC50 value of 8.5 nM when assessed in the HepG2.2.15 cellular assay.