NASH biotechs hope to succeed where others are failing

Bucking the trend of negative news in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), France-based biotech Genfit (EPA: GNFT) has agreed a major licensing and collaboration deal with Shanghai's Terns Pharmaceuticals.

The deal gives Terns the right to develop, register and sell Genfit’s lead candidate elafibranor, for the treatment of NASH as well as primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

The field has been rocked in recent months by a series of trial failures, suggesting that there may be an uphill battle to climb before  high levels of enthusiasm about the potential for novel therapies are rewarded.