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Janssen to discontinue development of HCV therapies

Janssen announced it will discontinue further development of the investigational hepatitis C regimen JNJ-4178, a direct-acting antiviral combination of AL-335, odalasvir and the company’s simeprevir regimen Olysio, according to a press release.

“Going forward, our hepatitis R&D efforts will focus on chronic hepatitis B, where a high unmet medical need still exists,” Lawrence M. Blatt, PhD, Global Therapeutic Area Head, Infectious Disease Therapeutics at Janssen, said in the release. “Our scientists are energized by this challenge and our research ambition is to achieve a functional cure of hepatitis B which affects over a quarter of a billion people globally.”

Janssen will complete the ongoing phase 2 studies for JNJ-4178 as planned. According to the press release, Janssen made the decision in response to the increasing availability of highly effective DAA therapies for HCV.

“At Janssen,” Blatt continued, “we focus our research and development on areas of greatest unmet medical need where we can combine our excellent internal science with the best available external innovation to bring optimized solutions and maximum benefit to patients.” – by Talitha Bennett