Assembly Biosciences Inc (ASMB)

[DewDiligence]

ASMB discontinues Vebicorvir for HBV, a smart decision that should’ve been made quite a while ago:

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/07/20/2483157/16259/en/Assembly-Biosciences-Announces-Program-Reprioritization-and-Organizational-Update.html

Assembly Biosciences will discontinue clinical development of its first-generation investigational core inhibitor, VBR, based on review of interim on-treatment efficacy from the two ongoing VBR triple combination studies. The data indicate that the triple combinations do not show a benefit in multiple key viral parameters compared to the dual combinations without VBR in either study.

…As a result of these data, Study 203, an open-label, Phase 2 study evaluating the triple combination of VBR + nucleos(t)ide analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NrtI) + interferon (PEG-IFN-alpha) versus the dual combinations of VBR + NrtI and NrtI + PEG-IFN-alpha, will conclude immediately.

No additional clinical studies of VBR are currently planned.

This is hardly a surprise. In #msg-167605073 (from Jan 2022) I said:

[ASMB’s] first HBV core inhibitor, VBR (f/k/a ABI-H0731), failed in a 2-drug combination with a nucleoside (#msg-159327881) and is now in various combination trials with external agents (#msg-157913492, #msg-166413748). These trials have a low chance of success (IMO) because VBR is a weak agent on its own, so there would need to be an astonishing degree of synergy for such combinations to provide a functional cure for HBV (the goal that all HBV companies are pursuing). All told, the VBR program looks like an example of Zebra’s Law.