What’s ahead for bulevirtide?
In a comment, Marc Bourlière, MD, from Saint Joseph Hospital in Marseilles, France, welcomed the decrease in viral load.
“This is known to be beneficial in terms of reducing morbidity and mortality in hepatitis D,” he said. “Remember that this disease is very difficult to treat, and until now, we have had no drug available. Pegylated interferon achieves cure in only 30% of patients, and half of these relapse, so actually only 15% have a meaningful response from pegylated interferon.”
“The main issue is its use as a daily subcutaneous injection. In clinical practice, it is a little bit complicated to set up, but once done, it is quite well accepted,” he said.
“I’m impressed with these results to date because there are no other compounds that have, as yet, achieved such results. This is impressive,” he added. “But whether it translates into a long-term response we don’t yet know.”
Dr. Bourlière also noted the meaningful 2-point log decline, noting that “HDV RNA negativity where treatment can be stopped would be really meaningful, but this endpoint is hard to obtain.”
Dr. Bourlière is awaiting results of the current ongoing phase 2/3 study, which would help determine a possible final treatment duration. He is also curious to settle the ongoing debate about whether bulevirtide should be used alone or in combination.
“We need to combine bulevirtide with pegylated interferon in less-advanced patients, because we know it is more potent and active against the HDV RNA,” he said.
Dr. Degasperi has previously declared she was on the advisory board for AbbVie and has spoken and taught for Gilead, MSD, and AbbVie. Dr. Bourlière declared interests with all companies involved in the R&D of liver therapies.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.