Venatorx Pharmaceuticals to Present Preclinical Profile of its Hepatitis B Virus Clinical Candidate at the International Liver Congress 2021

MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Venatorx Pharmaceuticals today announced that it will present at the International Liver Congress^TM (ILC), the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) annual meeting, which is scheduled to take place virtually June 23-26, 2021.

Poster# 1699
Title: Discovery and preclinical profile of VNRX-9945, a potent, broadly active core protein inhibitor for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection
Authors: G. Coburn, B. Liu, C. Benetatos, J. Yao, S. Boyd, T. Haimowitz, S. Condon, A. Drager, S. Emeigh Hart, D. Pevear, and C. Burns

About VNRX-9945

VNRX-9945 is a third-generation (highly potent), broadly active, orally bioavailable core protein allosteric modulator (CpAM) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. CpAMs represent an attractive class of direct-acting antivirals that block the formation of new virus particles and cccDNA in vitro.¹ In preclinical studies, VNRX-9945 demonstrated broad antiviral activity against multiple HBV genotypes in vitro and suppressed HBV DNA to below the lower limit of quantitation in an animal model of HBV infection. The discovery and advancement of highly potent CpAMs, including VNRX-9945, represents an exciting opportunity to achieve deeper and more complete levels of antiviral suppression in chronic HBV patients, and has the potential to form the basis for future combination therapies that lead to a functional cure.

About Hepatitis B Virus

There are more than 250 million individuals chronically infected with chronic HBV worldwide who are at risk from complications due to liver disease and liver cancer. Chronic HBV infection is currently managed with nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NrtIs) or pegylated-interferons that suppress HBV DNA replication and normalize alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, leading to reductions in morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, these agents are not curative and patients generally exhibit poor off-treatment responses that require indefinite therapy.

About Venatorx Pharmaceuticals

Founded in 2010, Venatorx Pharmaceuticals is a private pharmaceutical company focused on improving health outcomes for patients with multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections and hard-to-treat viral infections. Venatorx has built a world-class in-house research and development organization that has filed over 120 patents. Venatorx’s two lead antibacterial clinical-stage programs are intravenous (cefepime-taniborbactam) and oral (ceftibuten/VNRX-7145) broad-spectrum beta-lactam / beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations that are in Phase 3 and Phase 1, respectively. In addition, Venatorx is entering Phase 1 with its first antiviral compound (VNRX-9945), a Hepatitis B virus inhibitor, in late June 2021. The Company is also developing a novel class of non-beta-lactam antibiotics called Penicillin Binding Protein (PBP) inhibitors that have the potential to circumvent 70+ years of resistance and usher in a new wave of antibacterial therapeutics. For more information about Venatorx, its partners, investors and pipeline development, please visit www.venatorx.com.

References

^1. Berke, J.M. et al. Capsid assembly modulators have a dual mechanism of action in primary human hepatocytes infected with hepatitis B virus. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2017, 61: e00560-17.