Replies to post #244411 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

ABUS—2 patients in [cohort] K and one in [cohort] E achieved undetctable HBSAg. It looks like one of the 2 in cohort K started to rebound 28 weeks after stopping tx but hard to tell. If you include this pt then that makes 3 out of 20 at the highest doses (none at lower doses) may have functional cures.

Unfortunately, none of these three patients is being evaluated in the off-therapy trial extension to test for SVR: the patient in cohort E declined to participate in the extension, and the two patients in cohort K did not qualify for the extension under the trial protocol because they had detectable levels of HBeAg.

The fact that these three patients had detectable antibodies to HBsAg (but apparently not at all scheduled observations for the cohort-K patients) is encouraging, but not probative for a functional cure. It would seem that ABUS whiffed on an opportunity to follow these three patients off-treatment.

[DewDiligence]

ABUS—…adding their core inhibitor didn't boost responses at all.

It was ASMB’s core inhibitor, VBR, that was added in the triple-combination trial. VBR had previously been shown to be ineffective, so its lack of additive efficacy in the triple-combination trial is not surprising at all. The trial in question was completed only because ASMB insisted on doing so.