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Arbutus’ Imdusiran Achieves Functional Cure in cHBV Patients when Combined with a Short Course of Interferon
50% of patients who had baseline HBsAg levels less than 1000 IU/mL achieved functional cure in Cohort A1 of the IM-PROVE I Phase 2a clinical trial Overall, in
About this update from Arbutus Biopharma Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"50% of patients who had baseline HBsAg levels less than 1000 IU/mL achieved functional cure in Cohort A1 of the IM-PROVE I Phase 2a clinical trial Overall, in Cohort A1, 25% of patients achieved functional cure Data to be presented in late-breaker poster session at AASLD – The Liver Meeting® on Monday, November 18, 2024 WARMINSTER, Pa., Nov. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (Nasdaq: ABUS) (“Arbutus” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its extensive virology expertise to develop a functional cure for people with chronic hepatitis B virus (cHBV) infection, today announced new data from its IM-PROVE I Phase 2a clinical trial (AB-729-201) showing that six doses of imdusiran, the Company’s RNAi therapeutic candidate, and 24 weeks of pegylated interferon alfa-2α (IFN), a standard-of-care immunomodulator, added to ongoing nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) therapy, led to a functional cure rate of 50% (3/6) in HBeAg-negative patients with baseline HBsAg levels less than 1000 IU/mL, and an overall functional cure rate of 25% (3/12). Patients with HBsAg levels less than 1000 IU/mL represent a significant portion of the cHBV population. These data will be presented as a late-breaker poster presentation on November 18, 2024 at The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) – The Liver Meeting® 2024. “For the first time, we are seeing a meaningful percentage of HBV patients functionally cured with an RNAi therapeutic and interferon,” commented Professor Man-Fung Yuen, D.Sc., M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the University of Hong Kong and Principal Investigator of the IM-PROVE I clinical trial, who will present the data at AASLD. “While 48 weeks of interferon can be used as a standard of care treatment for HBV patients, historically less than 10% of patients experience a functional cure. Here, with the combination of imdusiran and 24 weeks of interferon, we see a 50% functional cure rate in HBV patients with HBsAg less than 1000 IU/mL at baseline and a 25% functional cure rate overall. In addition, I was pleased to see that this regimen with a short course of interferon was generally safe and well-tolerated. These data are extremely impressive and provide hope for the millions of HBV patients worldwide and the medical community th...