Emricasan Improves Liver Function in Cirrhosis Patients with NASH and/or Elevated MELD Scores
Emricasan Improves Hepatic Blood Flow, Portal Hypertension, and Liver Function in Animal Models
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 03, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CNAT) announced today that abstracts for four posters – two addressing clinical results and two addressing preclinical results with the company’s pan-caspase inhibitor, emricasan – have been accepted for presentation at The Liver Meeting®, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in Boston November 11-15, 2016.
Accepted abstracts were published today on the AASLD website at www.aasld.org/ for posters entitled:
- “Emricasan (IDN-6556) Orally for 6 Months in Patients with Cirrhosis and Elevated MELD Score Improves Liver Function,” (poster #2095);
- “Emricasan (IDN-6556) Orally for 6 Months in Patients with Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) Cirrhosis Decreases the Progression of MELD score and Improves Liver Function,” (poster #2099);
- “Circulating microparticles carry apoptosis markers CK-18 and caspase-3/7 which are reduced by treatment with Emricasan in subjects with chronic liver diseases,” (poster #2098); and
- “The pan caspase inhibitor Emricasan improves the hepatic microcirculatory dysfunction of CCl4-cirrhotic rats leading to portal hypertension amelioration and cirrhosis regression,” (poster #2097).
- Both poster #2095 and poster #2097 were accepted as “Presidential Posters of Distinction,” indicating review scores that place them within the top 10 percent of all posters submitted.
“We continue accumulating clinical evidence of emricasan’s disease-modifying potential as we advance toward an initial registration in patients with liver cirrhosis caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH),” said Conatus co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Steven J. Mento, Ph.D., “while simultaneously confirming emricasan’s multiple mechanistic effects on liver structure and function through preclinical studies. We are pleased with the opportunity to highlight the latest developments in both areas at the upcoming AASLD meeting, providing a deeper scientific understanding of the medical benefits observed in our clinical trials.”
About Emricasan Clinical Development
To date, emricasan has been studied in over 650 subjects in sixteen clinical trials across a broad range of liver disease etiologies and stages of progression. In multiple clinical trials, emricasan has demonstrated statistically significant, rapid and sustained reductions in elevated levels of key biomarkers of inflammation and apoptosis that are implicated in the progression of liver disease. Recent clinical trial results have demonstrated emricasan’s ability to provide statistically significant improvements in clinically important validated functional surrogate endpoints of portal hypertension and liver function across a variety of etiologies in the subgroups of liver cirrhosis patients with highest medical need. The company has initiated ENCORE-NF, the first among its planned set of parallel EmricasaN, a Caspase inhibitOR, for Evaluation (ENCORE) clinical trials designed to evaluate multiple doses of emricasan over various treatment durations in chronic liver disease of different etiologies and disease stages. The ENCORE trials are designed to provide further information on doses leading to clinically relevant efficacy, including improvement in biopsy-proven fibrosis and inflammation in patients with NASH fibrosis, and improvement in severe portal hypertension and hepatic function in patients with NASH cirrhosis. The ENCORE trials are also designed to provide safety data to support the initial registration of emricasan for chronic administration in patients with NASH cirrhosis. The company’s recently initiated Phase 2b ENCORE-NF clinical trial is evaluating emricasan’s potential longer-term benefits for patients with NASH fibrosis. The company also is evaluating emricasan’s potential longer-term benefits on liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in its ongoing Phase 2b clinical trial in post-orthotopic liver transplant (POLT) recipients who developed liver fibrosis or cirrhosis post-transplant as a result of recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and who have successfully achieved a sustained viral response (SVR) following antiviral therapy (POLT-HCV-SVR).
About Conatus Pharmaceuticals
Conatus is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines to treat liver disease. Conatus is developing its lead compound, emricasan, for the treatment of patients with chronic liver disease. Emricasan is a first-in-class, orally active pan-caspase inhibitor designed to reduce the activity of enzymes that mediate inflammation and apoptosis. Conatus believes that by reducing the activity of these enzymes, emricasan has the potential to interrupt the disease progression across the spectrum of liver disease. For additional information, please visit www.conatuspharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are forward looking statements, including statements regarding: the company’s plans to conduct the ENCORE set of parallel clinical trials; the ability of the ENCORE trials to provide dosing information leading to clinically relevant efficacy in patients with NASH fibrosis and NASH cirrhosis, and safety data to support the initial registration of emricasan for chronic administration; emricasan’s potential longer-term benefits for patients with NASH fibrosis; emricasan’s potential longer-term benefits on liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in POLT-HCV-SVR patients; and emricasan’s potential to interrupt the disease progression across the spectrum of liver disease. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including: Conatus’ ability to initiate and successfully complete current and future clinical trials; and those risks described in Conatus’ prior press releases and in the periodic reports it files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The events and circumstances reflected in Conatus’ forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, Conatus does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.