12-week, all-oral treatment halves current regimen duration for hard-to-manage treatment-experienced genotype 1 patients with cirrhosis
Fixed-dose regimen also demonstrates 91% SVR rates in non-cirrhotic genotype 1 patients without requiring use of ribavirin
PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today announced late-breaking data from the UNITY Trial program investigating a 12-week regimen of its all-oral daclatasvir (DCV) TRIO regimen – a fixed-dose combination of daclatasvir with asunaprevir (ASV) and beclabuvir (BCV) – in a broad range of patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C virus (HCV).
The data will be presented at The Liver Meeting® 2014, the Annual Meeting of The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), in Boston, MA, November 7 – 11. The primary endpoint for both studies was the percentage of patients who achieved cure, defined as HCV RNA<LLOQ TD/TND at post-treatment week 12 for treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients.
“Even with the most recent HCV treatment advances, genotype 1 patients with cirrhosis remain difficult to treat,” said Andrew J. Muir, M.D., MHS, Associate Professor of Medicine; Clinical Director, Gastroenterology & Transplant Hepatology, Duke Gastroenterology. “Currently, treatment-experienced cirrhotic patients still require a 24-week regimen to achieve high SVR rates. The data from this clinical trial using the DCV-TRIO regimen showed high cure rates for this population in a 12-week regimen, and has the potential to aid treatment adherence and provide a shorter treatment duration to achieve cure.”
Study Design and Results
The Phase 3 UNITY clinical trial program is an ongoing study investigating 12-week regimens of the DCV-TRIO fixed-dose combination (daclatasvir 30 mg plus asunaprevir 200 mg plus beclabuvir 75 mg) in non-cirrhotic and cirrhotic genotype 1 patients.
The open-label UNITY-1 study evaluated a 12-week regimen of the DCV-TRIO without ribavirin in treatment-naïve and -experienced non-cirrhotic patients. Non-cirrhotic treatment-naïve patients (n=312) and treatment-experienced patients (n=103) received the DCV-TRIO fixed-dose combination in one pill twice daily for 12 weeks, with 24 weeks of follow-up. The majority of the patients (73%) were genotype 1a, and 91% of all patients achieved SVR12. 92% of treatment-naive patients and 89% of treatment-experienced patients achieved cure, without the use of ribavirin.
In the UNITY-2 study, both cirrhotic treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients received the DCV-TRIO fixed-dose combination, one arm without ribavirin (n=102) and one with ribavirin (n=100). The study was double-blinded to ribavirin, and the majority of the patients (74%) were genotype 1a. The study showed 96% of all patients who received the DCV-TRIO with ribavirin achieved SVR12, and 90% of those who received the DCV-TRIO without ribavirin achieved SVR12.
“The Phase 3 UNITY results for the daclatasvir TRIO fixed-dose combination are particularly compelling for genotype 1 patients with cirrhosis, whose treatment is often harder to manage than non-cirrhotic patients,” said Douglas Manion, M.D., head of Specialty Development, Bristol-Myers Squibb. “BMS continues to recognize that HCV is an extremely complicated disease with no ‘one-size-fits-all’ treatment solution, and the UNITY results are especially promising for serving patients with cirrhosis, a specific but significant portion of genotype 1 patients.”
In both UNITY-1 and UNITY-2 there were low rates of adverse events (AEs) leading to discontinuation and of serious adverse events (SAEs) overall. In UNITY-1 there were 7 SAEs, all considered not related to study treatment, and 3 AEs leading to treatment discontinuation. The most common AEs were headache (25.8%) and fatigue (16.6%). In UNITY-2, there were 3 SAEs related to treatment and 4 AEs leading to discontinuation. The most common AEs were headache and fatigue (both 19.8%).
Full abstracts for both presentations are available at The Liver Meeting website.
About Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver and is transmitted through direct contact with infected blood and blood products. Approximately 170 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C, with an estimated 2.7–3.9 million chronically infected in the United States. Up to 90 percent of those infected with hepatitis C will not spontaneously clear the virus and will become chronically infected. According to the World Health Organization, up to 20 percent of people with chronic hepatitis C will develop cirrhosis; of those, up to 20 percent may progress to liver cancer.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb’s HCV Portfolio
Bristol-Myers Squibb’s research efforts are focused on advancing late-stage compounds to deliver the most value to patients with hepatitis C. At the core of our pipeline is daclatasvir, a potent pan-genotypic NS5A complex inhibitor (in vitro), which continues to be investigated in multiple treatment regimens and in people with co-morbidities.
Daklinza (daclatasvir) was recently approved in the EU for use in combination with other medicinal products across genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in adults. Daklinza is also approved in Japan in combination with Sunvepra (asunaprevir), a NS3/4A protease inhibitor. The Daklinza+Sunvepra Dual Regimen is Japan’s first all-oral, interferon- and ribavirin-free treatment regimen for patients with genotype 1 chronic HCV infection, including those with compensated cirrhosis.
In 2013, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s investigational all-oral DCV-TRIO regimen (daclatasvir/asunaprevir/beclabuvir) received Breakthrough Therapy Designation in the U.S., which helped to expedite the start of the ongoing Phase 3 UNITY program. Study populations include non-cirrhotic naïve, cirrhotic naïve and previously treated patients. In addition to UNITY 1 and 2, both the UNITY-3 study among Japanese treatment-naïve and -experienced genotype 1 patients and UNITY-4, which studies the DCV-TRIO regimen without ribavirin in cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients in Korea, Russia and Taiwan, are currently ongoing. The DCV-TRIO regimen is being studied as a fixed-dose-combination treatment with twice daily dosing.
Additional studies with daclatasvir in combination with sofosbuvir are being conducted in high unmet need patients, such as pre- and post-transplant patients, HIV/HCV co-infected patients and patients with genotype 3 as part of the ongoing Phase 3 ALLY Program.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.bms.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that daclatasvir or asunaprevir or any other compounds mentioned in this release will receive regulatory approval in the United States, or if approved, that they will become commercially successful products. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The data will be presented at The Liver Meeting® 2014, the Annual Meeting of The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), in Boston, MA, November 7 – 11. The primary endpoint for both studies was the percentage of patients who achieved cure, defined as HCV RNA<LLOQ TD/TND at post-treatment week 12 for treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients.
The UNITY-2 study, which evaluated cirrhotic patients in a 12-week regimen of the DCV-TRIO, showed sustained virologic response 12 weeks after treatment (SVR12) among 98% of treatment-naïve and 93% of treatment-experienced cirrhotic patients with ribavirin (RBV) and 93% of treatment-naïve and 87% of treatment-experienced cirrhotic patients without ribavirin.“Even with the most recent HCV treatment advances, genotype 1 patients with cirrhosis remain difficult to treat”
“Even with the most recent HCV treatment advances, genotype 1 patients with cirrhosis remain difficult to treat,” said Andrew J. Muir, M.D., MHS, Associate Professor of Medicine; Clinical Director, Gastroenterology & Transplant Hepatology, Duke Gastroenterology. “Currently, treatment-experienced cirrhotic patients still require a 24-week regimen to achieve high SVR rates. The data from this clinical trial using the DCV-TRIO regimen showed high cure rates for this population in a 12-week regimen, and has the potential to aid treatment adherence and provide a shorter treatment duration to achieve cure.”
Study Design and Results
The Phase 3 UNITY clinical trial program is an ongoing study investigating 12-week regimens of the DCV-TRIO fixed-dose combination (daclatasvir 30 mg plus asunaprevir 200 mg plus beclabuvir 75 mg) in non-cirrhotic and cirrhotic genotype 1 patients.
The open-label UNITY-1 study evaluated a 12-week regimen of the DCV-TRIO without ribavirin in treatment-naïve and -experienced non-cirrhotic patients. Non-cirrhotic treatment-naïve patients (n=312) and treatment-experienced patients (n=103) received the DCV-TRIO fixed-dose combination in one pill twice daily for 12 weeks, with 24 weeks of follow-up. The majority of the patients (73%) were genotype 1a, and 91% of all patients achieved SVR12. 92% of treatment-naive patients and 89% of treatment-experienced patients achieved cure, without the use of ribavirin.
In the UNITY-2 study, both cirrhotic treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients received the DCV-TRIO fixed-dose combination, one arm without ribavirin (n=102) and one with ribavirin (n=100). The study was double-blinded to ribavirin, and the majority of the patients (74%) were genotype 1a. The study showed 96% of all patients who received the DCV-TRIO with ribavirin achieved SVR12, and 90% of those who received the DCV-TRIO without ribavirin achieved SVR12.
“The Phase 3 UNITY results for the daclatasvir TRIO fixed-dose combination are particularly compelling for genotype 1 patients with cirrhosis, whose treatment is often harder to manage than non-cirrhotic patients,” said Douglas Manion, M.D., head of Specialty Development, Bristol-Myers Squibb. “BMS continues to recognize that HCV is an extremely complicated disease with no ‘one-size-fits-all’ treatment solution, and the UNITY results are especially promising for serving patients with cirrhosis, a specific but significant portion of genotype 1 patients.”
In both UNITY-1 and UNITY-2 there were low rates of adverse events (AEs) leading to discontinuation and of serious adverse events (SAEs) overall. In UNITY-1 there were 7 SAEs, all considered not related to study treatment, and 3 AEs leading to treatment discontinuation. The most common AEs were headache (25.8%) and fatigue (16.6%). In UNITY-2, there were 3 SAEs related to treatment and 4 AEs leading to discontinuation. The most common AEs were headache and fatigue (both 19.8%).
Full abstracts for both presentations are available at The Liver Meeting website.
About Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver and is transmitted through direct contact with infected blood and blood products. Approximately 170 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C, with an estimated 2.7–3.9 million chronically infected in the United States. Up to 90 percent of those infected with hepatitis C will not spontaneously clear the virus and will become chronically infected. According to the World Health Organization, up to 20 percent of people with chronic hepatitis C will develop cirrhosis; of those, up to 20 percent may progress to liver cancer.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb’s HCV Portfolio
Bristol-Myers Squibb’s research efforts are focused on advancing late-stage compounds to deliver the most value to patients with hepatitis C. At the core of our pipeline is daclatasvir, a potent pan-genotypic NS5A complex inhibitor (in vitro), which continues to be investigated in multiple treatment regimens and in people with co-morbidities.
Daklinza (daclatasvir) was recently approved in the EU for use in combination with other medicinal products across genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in adults. Daklinza is also approved in Japan in combination with Sunvepra (asunaprevir), a NS3/4A protease inhibitor. The Daklinza+Sunvepra Dual Regimen is Japan’s first all-oral, interferon- and ribavirin-free treatment regimen for patients with genotype 1 chronic HCV infection, including those with compensated cirrhosis.
In 2013, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s investigational all-oral DCV-TRIO regimen (daclatasvir/asunaprevir/beclabuvir) received Breakthrough Therapy Designation in the U.S., which helped to expedite the start of the ongoing Phase 3 UNITY program. Study populations include non-cirrhotic naïve, cirrhotic naïve and previously treated patients. In addition to UNITY 1 and 2, both the UNITY-3 study among Japanese treatment-naïve and -experienced genotype 1 patients and UNITY-4, which studies the DCV-TRIO regimen without ribavirin in cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients in Korea, Russia and Taiwan, are currently ongoing. The DCV-TRIO regimen is being studied as a fixed-dose-combination treatment with twice daily dosing.
Additional studies with daclatasvir in combination with sofosbuvir are being conducted in high unmet need patients, such as pre- and post-transplant patients, HIV/HCV co-infected patients and patients with genotype 3 as part of the ongoing Phase 3 ALLY Program.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information, please visit http://www.bms.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bmsnews.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Among other risks, there can be no guarantee that daclatasvir or asunaprevir or any other compounds mentioned in this release will receive regulatory approval in the United States, or if approved, that they will become commercially successful products. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013, in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
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ryan.asay@bms.com
Media:
Carrie Fernandez, Office: 609-419-5448
Cell: 215-859-2605
carrie.fernandez@bms.com
or
Investors:
Ranya Dajani, 609-252-5330
ranya.dajani@bms.com
or
Ryan Asay, 609-252-5020
ryan.asay@bms.com
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