A new remedy may help to relieve chronic hepatitis

The developers have reported on the successful completion of Myrcludex B interim tests. Myrcludex B is a drug intended to patients with chronic hepatitis B (delta agent). As "Remedium" notes, the drug has been tested on 120 patients for 24 weeks. During that time the volunteers had no serious side effects. This proves the safety of the therapy.

What is important is that all patients from the main group demonstrated a decrease of hepatitis RNA level (endpoint), in contrast to the control one. The endpoint was achieved in 76.6% of patients treated with 10 milligrams of the drug, compared to 3.3% of patients in the control group.

Normalization of ALT (alanine aminotransferase - liver marker) was observed in 40% of patients treated with 10 milligrams, compared to 6.6% of patients in the control group. In addition, due to the drug, the severity of hepatic fibrosis and intrahepatic levels of viral RNA has decreased.

Myrcludex B is a first-in-class drug for the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis B (HBV) and co-infection with hepatitis D (HDV). It blocks the general receptor responsible for entry of virus into a cell and inhibits the life cycle of both viruses. As a result, the number of infected cells decreases, which gives a hope to cure hepatitis or suppress the inflammation in the liver.

Source: "Remedium".