AbbVie commences studies of new hepatitis C regimen

AbbVie has announced the commencement of a clinical trial programme assessing its new once-daily pan-genotypic hepatitis C drug regimen.

The all-oral ribavirin-free investigational hepatitis C virus regimen consists of ABT-493, an NS3/4A protease inhibitor, and ABT-530, an NS5A inhibitor, and will be trialled in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infections of genotypes 1 to 6.

A total of six global phase III clinical studies will be conducted as part of the ENDURANCE and EXPEDITION pipeline programmes, which will recruit approximately 1,600 patients globally from more than 250 study sites in 27 countries.

The primary efficacy endpoint of all six studies is an improvement in the rate of sustained virologic response at 12 weeks post-treatment.

Dr Michael Severino, executive vice-president for research and development and chief scientific officer at AbbVie, said: "Our journey continues with the initiation of these phase III studies, which we hope will help us meet the needs of an even broader range of patients living with hepatitis C."

This comes after the company's new chronic lymphocytic leukaemia therapy venetoclax was accepted for US and EU regulatory review earlier this week.