28th Aug 2020 11:02
(Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC on Friday said it will present positive data from its phase 2a trial of a chronic hepatitis B treatment at the Digital International Liver Congress.
Shares in Glaxo were trading flat at 1,493.90 pence in London in morning trading.
The data on investigational drug GSK3228836, the London-headquartered drug maker said, suggests it has potential to suppress the hepatitis B virus after just four weeks of treatment.
Hepatitis B is a long-lasting infection occurring when the immune system cannot fight off the virus, and it persists in the blood and liver. Treatment options at the moment, including nucleoside or nucleotide analogue therapy, can suppress the virus but not clear it and have to be taken for life.
Data from 31 patients in the phase 2a study found marked reductions in hepatitis B surface antigen and and hepatitis B virus DNA versus placebo after four weeks in those who were on stable nucleoside or nucleotide analogue therapy and in patients who were nucleotide analogue-naive.
This anti-viral activity marks a possible step forward to assessing a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B. A functional cure means that the virus is not completely eliminated but is at a low enough level to be controlled by the immune system without medication.
Data from the trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Based on the data, Glaxo plans to move to a phase 2b clinical programme in multiple countries across Europe, Asia, and North America.
Christopher Corsico, senior vice president of Development at Glaxo, said: "Chronic hepatitis B affects around 260 million people globally and, despite existing treatments, can lead to nearly 900,000 deaths per year due to liver failure and liver cancer. We have observed promising early stage results showing antiviral activity with our anti-sense oligonucleotide, a key investigational medicine in our growing infectious diseases portfolio. This marks a potential step forward toward the goal of assessing sustained functional cure for people with chronic hepatitis B."
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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