As it awaits key read­out, He­p­i­on boosts con­fi­dence in NASH drug hope­ful via short­er study

He­p­i­on Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals said Mon­day morn­ing its drug for non­al­co­holic steato­hep­ati­tis, or NASH, im­proved liv­er func­tion ac­cord­ing to an ex­per­i­men­tal di­ag­nos­tic and al­so im­proved key bio­mark­ers as­so­ci­at­ed with the dis­ease.

In a Phase II study, the New Jer­sey biotech used an in­ves­ti­ga­tion­al test from col­lab­o­ra­tor Hep­Quant, a liv­er di­ag­nos­tics com­pa­ny in Den­ver, to ex­am­ine liv­er func­tion and im­pair­ment in over 60 pa­tients be­fore and af­ter they re­ceived He­p­i­on’s drug can­di­date ren­cofil­stat. He­p­i­on used the test to mea­sure a num­ber of items in­clud­ing dis­ease sever­i­ty, which was the pri­ma­ry end­point of the study.

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