Business
Arbutus Reports Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update
End-of-treatment data presented at the EASL Congress from two Phase 2a clinical trials supports advancing imdusiran as a potential cornerstone in a HBV
About this update from Arbutus Biopharma Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"End-of-treatment data presented at the EASL Congress from two Phase 2a clinical trials supports advancing imdusiran as a potential cornerstone in a HBV functional cure treatment regimen IM-PROVE I clinical trial demonstrated undetectable HBsAg in 33% of patients who were treated with 48 weeks of imdusiran and 24 weeks of IFN and in 67% of these patients with baseline HBsAg less than 1000 IU/mL Prioritizing imdusiran Phase 2b clinical development; eliminating HBV discovery efforts resulting in a reduction in workforce by 40% and extension of expected cash runway into the fourth quarter of 2026 Conference Call and Webcast Today at 8:45 AM ET WARMINSTER, Pa., Aug. 01, 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 reports second quarter 2024 financial results and provides a corporate update. “At the EASL Congress we reported impressive imdusiran data. I’m particularly excited that in the IM-PROVE I clinical trial we saw undetectable HBsAg in 67% of those patients with baseline HBsAg less than 1000 IU/mL who were treated with 48 weeks of imdusiran and 24 weeks of IFN,” said Michael J. McElhaugh, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Arbutus Biopharma. “In addition, these patients stopped all therapy and in early follow-up have maintained undetectable HBsAg and HBV DNA, a precursor to a functional cure. With these encouraging data, we continue to be optimistic about imdusiran as a potential cornerstone therapeutic in a treatment regimen to functionally cure cHBV.” Mr. McElhaugh continued, “We intend to focus our existing resources on conducting a Phase 2b clinical trial with imdusiran, assuming continued positive data. This has the potential to create a true inflection point for both Arbutus and HBV patients. To ensure we have the resources to conduct such a program, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue our HBV research efforts and reduce our headcount leading to a projected cash runway into the fourth quarter of 2026. I want to express my sincere gratitude to those impacted by the workforce reduction for their invaluable contributions to our mission and their dedication to help...