First patient in the Lambda Interferon MonoTherapy in HDV clinical study has been dosed with pegylated interferon lambda-1a, a potential therapeutic for chronic hepatitis D virus infection announced by Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. And now multiple active anti-HDV agents have been in development, including an oral therapy and a subcutaneous injectable therapy to study alone and in combination toward the suppression or cure of HDV, per the release.
Pegylated interferon lambda-1a, known as lambda, is a well-characterized, late-stage, first in class, type III interferon (IFN) that stimulates immune responses that are critical for the development of host protection during viral infections.
“Over recent years, patients with chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C have benefited from huge advances in antiviral therapy for both diseases,” Edward Gane, MD, chief hepatologist, transplant physician and deputy director of the New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit, Auckland City Hospital, and investigator in the LIMT HDV study, said in the release. “Unfortunately, HDV remains a huge unmet medical need because of the lack of any effective therapy for this most aggressive form of viral hepatitis. … We are delighted to have enrolled the first patient in LIMT HDV, a study that may lay the groundwork for development of Lambda in HDV infection.”