First patient dosed with pegylated interferon lambda-1a in HDV trial

Eiger BioPharmaceuticals Inc. announced the 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.

Pegylated interferon lambda-1a (Eiger BioPharmaceuticals), known as lambda, is a type 3 interferon currently being tested in the clinical trial as potential monotherapy and combination regimen for individuals with chronic HDV. The Lambda Interferon MonoTherapy in HDV (LIMT HDV) trial is a 30-patient study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of two dose levels of lambda after 48 weeks of treatment, per the release. Patients will receive either 120 or 180 microgram subcutaneous injections administered weekly.

“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.”

To date, pegylated interferon lambda-1a has been studied in more than 3,000 patients with HDV, per the release. LIMT HDV is currently enrolling at University of Auckland in New Zealand with additional sites planned in Israel and Pakistan.

In April, Eiger announced it licensed pegylated interferon lambda-1a to Bristol-Myers Squibb to investigate the efficacy and safety of the drug as a therapeutic option for the treatment of HDV infection.

Disclosure: Healio.com/Hepatology was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.