Eiger ends PhIII hepatitis delta trial over safety concerns — and the search for treatment partner

Eiger Bio­Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals is end­ing a Phase III tri­al in­ves­ti­gat­ing its treat­ment in liv­er in­fec­tions caused by the he­pati­tis D virus over safe­ty con­cerns, just a few months af­ter it laid off 25% of its em­ploy­ees and cut R&D spend­ing to the pro­gram.

Eiger was in­ves­ti­gat­ing pegin­ter­fer­on lamb­da in pa­tients with chron­ic he­pati­tis delta, a liv­er in­fec­tion caused by the he­pati­tis D virus. He­pati­tis D on­ly oc­curs in peo­ple who are al­so in­fect­ed with the he­pati­tis B virus, ac­cord­ing to the CDC. It re­sults in the most se­vere form of hu­man vi­ral he­pati­tis, for which there is no ap­proved ther­a­py.

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