ContraVir Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CTRV) had a memorable Friday as the company’s stock soared off the heels of a successful results regarding one of its treatments for liver disease.
The Edison, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical business today unveiled findings from a preclinical study in which CRV431, which is a novel cyclophilin inhibitor, significantly helped to decrease the extent of fibrosis in a second animal model of liver fibrosis. The term fibrosis refers to scarring of the liver, and it is a common symptom of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which causes impaired liver function.
ContraVir Pharmaceuticals focuses mostly on developing therapeutic drugs to treat liver disease that arises from NASH. The company said that obeticholic acid (OCA), which is a semi-synthetic bile acid analogue drug, was approved for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and it is being evaluated in Phase 3 trials by another company.
The medication was used by a comparator drug within the study and did not decrease the extent of fibrosis in this study conducted by the company. This industry-standard model requires liver fibrosis to be induced in mice by administering carbon tetrachloride.
“This is the second animal model, and the fifth study overall, in which CRV431 consistently demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in fibrosis,” said Dr. Robert Foster, Chief Executive Officer of ContraVir. “In addition, this study showed that CRV431 reduced fibrosis where OCA, a drug approved for PBC with potential to treat additional liver diseases, such as NASH, did not.”
