Janssen backs out of HCV, citing lack of need

US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has announced that it is scrapping work on its development of the investigational hepatitis C virus (HC) treatment regimen JNJ-4178, a combination of three direct acting antivirals - AL-335, odalasvir and simeprevir.

The ongoing Phase II studies with JNJ-4178 will be completed as planned, but there will be no additional development thereafter, according to the company, which announced that it made the decision ‘in light of the increasing availability of a number of highly effective therapies addressing the medical need in HCV.’

Lawrence Blatt, J&J unit Janssen’s global therapeutic area head, infectious disease therapeutics, said: “Going forward, our hepatitis R&D efforts will focus on chronic hepatitis B, where a high unmet medical need still exists. Our scientists are energized by this challenge and our research ambition is to achieve a functional cure of hepatitis B which affects over a quarter of a billion people globally.”