Biotron hepatitis treatment looks promising

Data from a trial of Biotron's (ASX:BIT) novel hepatitis C (HCV) treatment candidate shows that all patients treated with the highest dose had undetectable levels of the virus at 48-week follow up.

The company plans to present follow-up data from the phase IIa trial of BIT225 at the annual American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in November.

Biotron has released some details of the new data ahead of the presentation. The data show that patients treated with both BIT225 and the standard of care (SOC) – interferon alfa-2b and ribavarin – showed improved outcomes to those receiving the standard of care alone.

Patients receiving the larger 400mg dose of BIT225 showed 100% sustained virological response (SVR), while patients in the 200mg group showed 87.5% SVR. This compares to 75% for patients only treated with the SOC.

The new data complements previously released data from the 28 day trial, showing that at the three month time point 87% of patients receiving both treatments showed an SVR, compared to 63% in the SOC group.

BIT225 takes a new approach to fighting hepatitis C by targeting the HCV viral protein p7, which is involved in virus replication and reproduction.

According to the company, lab tests suggest that the treatment could work well with the emerging drug class of polymerase inhibitors, as well as the current SOC treatments.

Biotron is also developing the antiviral as a prospective treatment for HIV, and in October commenced a phase Ib/IIa trial in 18 HIV-positive, treatment-naive patients.

Biotron (ASX:BIT) have risen nearly 40% to 13c this week on the back of the trial results.