Birinapant : Is there any organisation still doing research on this?

General Discussion
1

I am wondering if there’s any company still researching birinapant for hbv.

@ThomasTu @availlant @Suwang88 @john.tavis

There had been a very promising preclinical back in 2015. There was some serious but reversible side effects like Bell’s palsy at higher doses. A side effect which many of us would trade.

I don’t know why people just gave up.

1 Like
2

HI @KWr ,

There is not currently any company developing this asset for HBV.

It is important to take headlines like this with a grain of salt.

The HBsAg response was weak in human trials as doses which caused significant rates of Bell’s palsy.

This compound was abandoned by Tetralogics in 2016 (and the company closed).

Brinipant was acquired by Medivir at that time. Medivir in turn licensed the drug to IGM Biosciences in 2021 for development as an anti-cancer agent.

Best regards,

1 Like
3

Hi @KWr ,

I fully agree with Andrew’s comment about taking medical headlines with a healthy dose of skepticism. There is a strong pressure on the media to have eye-catching headlines, and lay scientific articles often do not fully appreciate the complexities of medical studies. That is not to say that information in the lay medical press should be ignored–far from it! It is just that they often don’t tell the full story. In this case, the side effect of Bell’s Palsey is quite significant and at a bare minimum it would attract extremely close scrutiny from the FDA and other regulatory agencies.

John

1 Like