Janssen Sciences Ireland UC announced it and other Janssen affiliates will present 13 research abstracts, covering ongoing work into potential treatments for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and potential and approved ones for hepatitis C (HCV), at the International Liver Congress of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL 2016), set for April 13–17 in Barcelona, Spain.
“Despite recent advances, the global impact of viral hepatitis remains far reaching with significant unmet needs yet to be addressed. We have come a long way in developing cures for hepatitis C, but further innovation is needed to deliver one treatment suitable for all patient types,” Lawrence M. Blatt, PhD, Global Therapeutic Area head, Infectious Diseases and Vaccines for Janssen Research & Development, said in a press release. “Chronic hepatitis B is a potentially fatal liver disease that requires life-long treatment. There remains no known cure which represents an unmet medical need and we are excited by the opportunity to fully leverage our expertise in this critical disease area in order to bring potentially new treatments to patients.”
A key presentation will be what the company described as a late-breaking abstract on NVR 3-778, a small antiviral molecule for oral administration in patients with HBV that inhibits the virus’ core or capsid protein, a novel and promising drug target due to its involvement in multiple activities required for viral replication and persistence.
Janssen will also present new data from a Phase 3 clinical study (PLUTO) of its protease inhibitor, simeprevir, given in combination with sofosbuvir, as a treatment for patients infected with HCV genotype 4, as well as data derived from several Phase 2 and 3 trials evaluating the tolerability and efficacy for simeprevir in adults with varying stages of chronic hepatitis C.
Other presentations cover early data from a Phase 2a clinical investigation in chronic hepatitis C patients of Janssen’s nucleotide polymerase inhibitor, AL-335, in combination with odalasvir (ACHN-3102) and simeprevir, as well as results from a Phase 1 trial on AL-704 (JNJ-54257099), a nucleotide-based NS5B polymerase inhibitor also intended to treat chronic HCV infection in combination with other direct-acting antiviral agents.
More information on these and other presentations scheduled for EASL 2016 is available through this link.