Arrowhead Research said this week that it has begun dosing patients in a Phase IIa trial of its hepatitis B treatment ARC-520.
The single-dose, dose-escalation trial is designed to determine the drug's ability to suppress hepatitis B surface antigen in combination with the oral antiviral agent entecavir in chronic HBV patients.
Single doses of ARC-520 will be evaluated at up to two ascending doses of 1.0 mg/kg and 2.0 mg/kg, Arrowhead said. At each of the two dose levels to be evaluated, a cohort of 8 patients will be enrolled with 6 being dosed with ARC-520 and 2 being dosed with placebo.
Enrollment in the study is expected to be complete in the second quarter, with top-line results available by the third quarter.