Assembly Biosciences Inc (ASMB)

[DewDiligence]

ASMB—(-37%/AH)—suffers_massive_phase-2_failure in HBV:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/11/05/2121468/0/en/Assembly-Biosciences-Provides-Update-on-the-Ongoing-Phase-2-Extension-Study-of-Vebicorvir-in-Patients-with-Chronic-Hepatitis-B-Virus-Infection.html

Assembly Biosciences…provided an update on the ongoing open-label Phase 2 extension study (Study 211) of vebicorvir (VBR, or ABI-H0731) in patients with chronic HBV infection. A first of its kind, Study 211 is exploring whether sustained virologic response (SVR) could be achieved after discontinuing therapy in virologically-suppressed patients who had received at least 12-18 months of combination treatment with core inhibitor VBR and a nucleos(t)ide analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NrtI). Study patients who met the treatment stopping criteria discontinued therapy and have been assessed monthly for safety and relapse. The study has not achieved meaningful SVR rates as 39 of 41 patients have now relapsed.

I previously posted that ABI-H0731 appeared to have only modest efficacy (#msg-156515976), which is why ASMB has a backup CpAM compound for HBV called ABI-H2158. Today’s failure presumably spells the end of ABI-H0731 as a serious candidate.

Note: ENTA has an HBV CpAM in phase-2 that the CEO says is much more potent than ABI-H0731 (#msg-156787041).