Gilead unveils promising
hep C, fatty liver data; setbacks elsewhere
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[October 21, 2016]
(Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc on
Thursday announced high cure rates across all types of hepatitis C in
late stage studies testing a triple drug combination, and said another
experimental drug showed promise in reducing liver scarring known as
fibrosis in a midstage trial.
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The company said it planned to advance the drug, called GS-4997 or
selonsertib, into Phase III trials against the fatty liver disease
known as NASH, or nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, that is reaching
epidemic proportions in the United States and elsewhere. The drug
was tested in combination with Gilead's experimental anti-fibrotic
drug simtuzumab.
Gilead shares rose more than 1 percent to $74.18.
But GS-4997 failed to achieve the main goal of midstage trials for
pulmonary arterial hypertension or diabetic kidney disease based on
preliminary data analysis, the company said.
"Due to insufficient evidence of efficacy, Gilead has decided not to
pursue Phase III studies of GS-4997 in PAH or DKD at this time,"
Gilead said in a statement.
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A quartet of Phase III trials tested Gilead's Sovaldi in combination
with experimental antiviral drugs velpatasvir and voxilaprevir
across hepatitis C genotypes 1 through 6 in previously untreated
patients and those who failed prior therapy. The trials included
patients with and without advanced liver damage known as cirrhosis.
Across the four trials, the pangenotypic triple combination achieved
cure rates of between 95 percent and 97 percent over either eight or
12 weeks of treatment.
The three drugs each use different mechanisms to prevent the virus
from replicating in the blood. Gilead's big-selling two-drug
combination Harvoni, which also includes Sovaldi, treats genotype 1,
the most common in the United States, as well as genotypes 4, 5 and
6 with one pill a day.
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In the trial of 72 patients with NASH and moderate to severe
fibrosis, 43 percent who got 18 milligrams of GS-4997 plus
simtuzumab achieved at least a one-stage improvement in fibrosis.
With a 6 mg dose of GS-4997 plus simtuzumab, 30 percent experienced
such a fibrosis improvement, according to preliminary data after 24
weeks of treatment.
"We believe this data, which raises the likelihood Gilead
participates in multi-billion dollar markets beyond HIV and
hepatitis C in the medium-term, should start to improve sentiment"
for the company, Jefferies analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research
note.
Overall, GS-4997 was well tolerated with no dose-related increase in
the incidence of treatment-related adverse events or serious adverse
events, the company said.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Bernard Orr)
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