Altimmune Scraps Hepatitis B, Pivots to Obesity and MASH

Altimmune, a Maryland-based biotech firm, has discontinued its hepatitis B program after the HepTcell candidate did not meet the necessary efficacy criteria in a Phase II trial. The company determined that the results were not adequate to justify further development and thus halted the project. HepTcell was an immunotherapy aimed at stimulating immune responses against all hepatitis B virus genotypes, and while it had shown safety in Phase I trials, it failed to demonstrate the required effectiveness.

Shifting its focus away from hepatitis B, Altimmune is now concentrating on the obesity market, where its candidate, pemvidutide, has shown promising results. In a Phase II trial conducted in November 2023, the injectable drug resulted in a mean weight loss of 15% for patients receiving a 2.4-mg dose at the 48-week mark. Remarkably, at the highest dose of pemvidutide, over 30% of the participants achieved a weight loss of at least 20%.

Pemvidutide is an experimental peptide-based drug that acts as a dual receptor agonist for GLP-1 and glucagon, currently under development to treat obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Altimmune recently highlighted the successful completion of the MOMENTUM 48-week Phase II obesity trial for pemvidutide. The company's CEO, Vipin Garg, stated that the data indicated that 74.5% of the weight loss was from adipose tissue, with only 25.5% coming from lean mass, which is similar to the outcomes of weight loss from diet and exercise.

Garg believes that the impressive weight loss data positions pemvidutide to stand out among other treatments in the obesity treatment field. He also mentioned that Altimmune is looking forward to the results of its Phase IIb MASH trial, expected in the first quarter of 2025.