Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (NASDAQ:ABUS) shares rumbled ahead Monday after the company reported new data on AB-729 and AB-836 programs with presentation of five abstracts at the EASL International Liver Congres 2021.
The Warminster, Pa.-based Arbutus, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on developing a cure for people with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, as well as therapies to treat coronaviruses (including COVID-19), today announced the presentation of five abstracts at the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) International Liver Congress TM (ILC).
As one of the chief scientists put it, AB-729 continues to demonstrate robust mean HBsAg reduction across all doses and dosing intervals with a favorable safety and tolerability profile, followed by a sustained plateau phase.
He said, "These data continue to demonstrate that AB-729 delivers sustained and comparable HBsAg reduction across all doses and dose intervals. Importantly, AB-729 was generally safe and well tolerated. I believe these results support continued evaluation of AB-729 as a significant advancement in the future treatment of chronic HBV."
Key findings were expressed thus: AB-729 induced reductions in HBsAg are associated with increased HBV-specific immune responses in 3/5 evaluable subjects. These increases in HBV-specific immune responses were accompanied by mild to moderate ALT elevations. ABUS believes these to be the first results in a setting of small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapy which strengthen the hypothesis that long-term HBV antigen suppression can promote immune reawakening in HBV subject.
ABUS shares gained 24 cents, or 7.2%, to $3.61
