Abbott announces details for phase III hepatitis drug trials

Abbott has released details for a planned phase III trial programme assessing the benefits of new interferon-free hepatitis C virus (HCV) regimens.

The company will be carrying out a series of studies assessing the safety and efficacy of a 12-week regimen of three direct acting antivirals, with and without ribavirin, for the treatment of HCV in genotype 1 non-cirrhotic, treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients.

More than 2,000 patients across 29 countries will be involved in the trial programme, which will also include an additional study involving subjects with cirrhosis for 12 or 24 weeks.

These trials are being launched based on the promising results gleaned from the recent phase IIb Aviator study.

Dr Scott Brun, divisional vice-president for infectious disease development at Abbott, said: "We have been very encouraged by the data from the phase II studies and look forward to confirming the findings in our phase III programme."

This comes in the same week that the company reported positive data from a recent study showing the benefits of Humira in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.