Biotron posts early data from HIV/HCV trial

Biotron (ASX:BIT) has announced promising early data from a phase II trial of viroporin inhibitor BIT225 in patients co-infected with Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV.

All six HCV Genotype 3 patients enrolled in the study who had completed 28 days of treatment with BIT225 had undetectable levels of HCV 12 weeks into the trial.

During the trial, 12 patients received the standard-of-care combination treatment interferon and ribavirin (IFN/RVB) for seven days before commencing treatment with BIT225. They then received 300 mg of BIT225 twice daily as well as the IFN/RVB regimen for 28 days.

Biotron Managing Director Dr Michelle Miller said the interim data on Genotype 3 patients is “particularly encouraging. The other new classes of direct-acting antiviral drugs in development are not very effective in these patients, with response rates as low as 37% after 12 weeks of treatment. In contrast, we saw 100% response at 12 weeks, with only four weeks of treatment with BIT225.”

The trial marks the first time BIT225 has been tested in HIV/HCV co-infected patients. This cohort tends to have more serious HCV infection and to be more difficult to treat than HCV mono-infected patients.

Data from the study will be presented in a late-breaking poster at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases’ 2013 annual conference in Washington early next month.

Biotron has also trialled BIT225 in mono-infected HCV patients and in HIV patients, where it has been shown to target HIV reservoir precursor cells.

Biotron (ASX:BIT) shares were trading 11.24% higher at $0.099 as of around 2 pm on Friday.