Hepatitis

SB 9200 Is A Potential Breakthrough Drug For Hepatitis B and C

The Hepatitis B virus (“HBV”) infects roughly one-third of the world’s population, or more than two billion people. Of these, about 350 million become chronically infected, leading to progressive liver disease and approximately one million deaths each year. Worldwide, some 170 million people are chronically infected by the Hepatitis C virus (“HCV”), including four million in the US. Chronic infection with either HBV or HCV can lead to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (“HCC”), which has a five-year survival rate of less than 5%. Worldwide, there are about 1.2 million new cases of HCC annually, including about 15,000 in the US.

Despite the development of numerous antiviral drugs for HBV and HCV, effective treatment of hepatitis remains a substantially unmet medical need. Current therapies suffer from incomplete responses or initial responses followed by the development of resistant viral strains. In addition, common treatment combinations such as ribavirin and interferon for HCV, or interferon and nucleoside or nucleotide analogs for HBV, are poorly tolerated by many patients. HCV protease inhibitors, currently in late Phase 3 development, represent a major advance, but still require combination with interferon. The future gold standard is expected to be combination therapy with two or more directly acting antiviral drugs plus an immune system booster that is more easily administered and better tolerated than interferon.

SB 9200 is a potential breakthrough drug for HBV and HCV. It has both direct antiviral and immune stimulating activities. Its works by activating RIG-I, a human protein involved in the detection of viral RNA in cells, so it is unlikely to elicit resistance. It shows synergy in combination with other antiviral drugs and has activity against drug-resistant viral strains. SB 9200 is orally available and was well tolerated in IND enabling toxicology studies. With this profile, it could potentially replace ribavirin and/or interferon in combination therapy.

SB 9200 Activates RIG-I, Stimulating Interferon Production and Also Interferes Directly with Viral Replication

     • Activates RIG-I and triggers the signaling cascade for antiviral action   
     • Interferes with viral proteins by preventing them from binding, blocking their
        progression or displacing them from viral RNA thereby inhibiting viral replication

About Hepatitis

Over 350 million people are chronically infected with HBV virus worldwide. The HBV virus is a DNA virus which incorporates into the hepatocyte DNA. Read More >>

Approximately 170 million people worldwide and 4 million in the United States are infected with HCV. HCV infection is one of the most significant public health threats facing Americans.
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