Conatus crashes on failure of mid-stage trial in NASH fibrosis

In another high profile failure for the fatty liver disease sector, USA-based  Conatus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CNAT)  has announced disappointing top-line results from the company’s Phase IIb ENCORE-NF clinical trial in patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and liver fibrosis.

The trial’s primary endpoint of the study testing emricasan, under development with Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX), was a ≥1 CRN fibrosis stage improvement with no worsening of steatohepatitis compared with placebo at week 72, which the study failed to meet and the news sending Conatus’ shares cratering 50.86% to $1.43 in after-hours trading following the announcement

“Although emricasan did not have the desired effect in these earlier-stage NASH fibrosis patients, we believe its demonstrated biomarker activity across a broad spectrum of liver disease warrants continued evaluation in more advanced-stage NASH cirrhosis patients,” said Steven Mento, president, chief executive and co-founder of Conatus, trying to put a positive spin on the news. “We look forward to seeing the additional data readouts expected over the coming months and reviewing the totality of these results with our collaborators at Novartis to determine the most appropriate path forward,” he added.