Strong data for Metabasis' HBV drug

US drugmaker Metabasis Therapeutics has welcomed encouraging Phase II study data on pradefovir, its oral antiviral product candidate, which it licensed to Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

Valeant is evaluating the safety and efficacy of the agent for the treatment of compensated chronic hepatitis B. Data from the Phase II open-label, randomized, multiple-dose, 242-patient study showed that the percentage of patients in the 30mg pradefovir cohort achieving undetectable hepatitis B virus DNA (<400 c/mL) was almost double that of patients receiving 10mg (QD) of Hepsera, a non-liver targeted pro-drug of adefovir, linked to kidney toxicity at doses over 30mg.