Replies to post #219765 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

ASBM—…there's always going to be caveats in projecting pre-clinical data forward to the clinic.

True, but it’s a matter of degree. For ASMB’s HBV program, the scientific underpinning for what they hope to accomplish (curing HBV patients with a short course of 2-DAA therapy, as can be done in HCV) strikes me as unusually tenuous.

ASBM's calculations regarding the rate of natural decay of HBV cccDNA are based on subtracting a poorly-defined duration from another poorly-defined duration, which results in a number that's even more poorly defined that the two input values.

[DewDiligence]

ASMB starts two phase-2a trials in HBV—trial designs as previously disclosed and discussed on this board:

https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/07/09/1534523/0/en/Assembly-Biosciences-Initiates-Two-Phase-2a-Trials-of-ABI-H0731-for-the-Treatment-of-Hepatitis-B-Virus-Infection.html

I’ve been skeptical of what ASBM is trying to show vis-à-vis eradicating cccDNA, which is the main hurdle to overcome in curing HBV with a short course of therapy. (Please see the thread culminating at #msg-141761202 for background.)