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Benitec Submits IND for HCV Drug

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Benitec Biopharma announced this week that it has submitted an investigational new drug application to begin phase I/IIa testing of its expressed RNAi-based hepatitis C treatment TT-034.

TT-034 expresses shRNAs targeting three portions of the HCV genome. It was originally developed by Benitec, but financial problems led the company to license the agent to startup Tacere Therapeutics in 2006.

Benitec acquired Tacere last year, reacquiring the HCV program. It expects to begin human testing of TT-034 early next year.

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