Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ: ASMB) has announced plans to expand the clinical development of ABI-6250, its oral entry inhibitor candidate for chronic hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection, into primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), broadening the program into cholestatic liver diseases.
According to Assembly, ABI-6250 is currently being evaluated for chronic HDV infection and has completed a Phase 1a clinical trial in healthy participants.
In a statement, Christopher Bowlus, MD, Lena Valente Professor and Chief, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of California, Davis, commented, “Treatment options for cholestatic liver diseases have expanded in recent years, but important gaps remain, particularly for patients with PSC for whom no treatments currently are approved and for those with PBC who do not adequately respond to the current therapies. Targeting NTCP represents a mechanistically distinct approach compared to currently approved therapies, given its central role in bile acid transport. An oral agent like ABI-6250 that modulates this pathway could offer a differentiated strategy to impact disease biology and patient symptoms.”
