Positive Phase 2a data for Biotron's first-in-class HCV p7 inhibitor BIT225...

Positive Phase 2a data for Biotron's first-in-class HCV p7 inhibitor BIT225

Biotron shares soar 34% on Hepatitis C Phase 2a positive results
Monday, October 10, 2011 by John Phillips

Biotron Limited (ASX: BIT) has received some strong support in the first couple of hours of market open today, with the stock trading 34% higher at $0.13 after announcing some positive trial results.

Preliminary analysis of trial data confirms that BIT225, an orally administered, small molecule drug, has good antiviral activity against HCV.

Patients receiving BIT225 in combination with interferon and ribavirin (the current standard of care for treating HCV) had greater reductions in HCV levels than patients receiving standard of care treatment alone.

Biotron said that patients receiving the 400 mg dose of BIT225 showed the greatest levels of virus reduction, with an improvement of ~1 log (a measure of the amount of reduction of the virus in the blood of patients) over standard of care treatment at the completion of the dosing phase with BIT225.

This is a significant improvement over and above the standard of care treatment in this patient group.

Twenty four patients who had passed a stringent screening process were randomly assigned to receive either 400 mg or 200 mg BIT225, or placebo (ratio of 1:1:1), for the first 28 days of their standard treatment with interferon and ribavirin.

The trial was undertaken at the Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand.

All patients were infected with genotype 1 HCV, which is the most common type of HCV and the most resistant to current treatment.