VIDEO: Albireo CEO discusses cholestatic therapy pipeline

SAN FRANCISCO — In this exclusive video perspective from The Liver Meeting 2018, Ron Cooper, president and CEO of Albireo Pharma, discusses the company’s ongoing research into treatments for pediatric cholestatic diseases, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and bile acid malabsorption disease.

“Albireo Pharma is a company that’s focused in areas of high, unmet medical need in the liver and GI space,” Cooper told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “We use our expertise in bile acids and bile acid modulation to produce some pretty interesting product candidates.

The company’s current pipeline includes A4250, an ileal bile acid transporter being developed for rare pediatric cholestatic liver diseases. A4250 is currently in a phase 3 study for progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) and the company expects the trial to be finished by the end of 2019 with topline data available by early 2020.

Cooper noted that A4250 has received fast track designation and priority review voucher eligibility fom the FDA for PFIC and has received an orphan drug designation for Alagille syndrome.

Additionally, the company has reported positive data from a phase 2 trial of A3384 for bile acid malabsorption disease and plans to begin a phase 2 trial of elobixibat for NASH in 2019.

“Albireo is a company that’s committed to liver and GI diseases,” Cooper said. “We’ve made tremendous progress through our bile acid modulation platform in having a drug approved and we’re excited about the potential for A4250 in pediatric cholestatic diseases to make a real impact on those children and their families.” – by Talitha Bennett

Disclosure: Cooper is the president and CEO of Albireo Pharma.