TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals Announces Results of Preclinical Studies in Hepatitis B

TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals Corporation

today announced additional results from preclinical studies that demonstrated the ability of the SMAC-mimetic, birinapant, to clear Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) in mouse models. In studies performed by Dr. Marc Pellegrini and his colleagues at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia, administration of birinapant to C57BL/6 mice hastened the clearance of HBV-DNA from blood and liver, and was associated with loss of HBV-surface antigen (HBsAg). Birinapant's effect occurred in a dose-related manner. This was associated with apoptosis of infected hepatocytes and transient elevation of liver transaminases. Normal hepatocytes were spared. The clearance of HBV-DNA was also seen with entecavir, and the two agents together were more effective than either agent alone. These results were confirmed using mice in which the targets of birinapant, the cIAPs, were ablated in the liver ("knock-out mice"). In C3H mice that do not spontaneously clear HBV, birinapant treatment resulted in loss of HBV-DNA, loss of HBsAg and the appearance of anti-HBsAg antibodies. "These preclinical results provide a compelling rationale for TetraLogic's recently initiated clinical study in HBV" said J. Kevin Buchi, President and Chief Executive Officer of TetraLogic.