Transgene‘s Hepatitis B Vaccine Does the Business at Phase I

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The French biotech‘s hepatitis B vaccine has demonstrated good efficacy and safety, suggesting it could provide effective protection from the virus.

Biotech veteran, Transgene, specializes in viral-based immunotherapies for cancers and infectious diseases. One of its targets, hepatitis B, is a potentially fatal liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Today, it has announced that its vaccine candidate, TG1050, has demonstrated good efficacy and safety in the first cohort of patients in a Phase I trial. The company, whose market cap stands at €188.36M, will hope to see this continue for the rest of the study.

Hepatitis B is a liver infection that can result in chronic infection and liver disease. If untreated, it can develop into liver cancer or cirrhosis, which can be fatal. An estimated 240 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B, making it a major global health problem. Current treatments cure just 3% of cases, so while new therapeutic approaches are under development, preventative measures are needed.

TG1050 is a targeted immunotherapy for chronic hepatitis B, based on a viral vector expressing three HBV antigens. Preclinical studies demonstrated that TG1050 induces a robust HBV-specific T cell response. This, among other positive findings, provided the basis for commencing a clinical trial. So far, a strong immune response against the three HBV antigens and a dose-response relationship has been observed.