Hepion Pharmaceuticals’ Rencofilstat Demonstrates Anti-Cancer Activity in Hepatitis C-Associated Cancer Model - Seite 2

“These results highlight one of rencofilstat’s greatest strengths, which is the ability to exert pleiotropic effects that can be harnessed to treat multiple diseases,” said Dr. Daren Ure, Hepion’s Chief Scientific Officer. “This contrasts with highly selective drugs that target single mechanisms, such as the currently available anti-HCV drugs that do not effectively treat liver cancer arising from HCV infection. We believe that rencofilstat is the ideal treatment for this kind of cancer as it stops viral replication and suppresses cancer through separate and complementary pathways.”

Dr. Robert Foster, Hepion’s CEO, added “The antiviral, anti-cancer, and antifibrotic activities of rencofilstat address many of the most deadly and prevalent diseases affecting people today. Not only could rencofilstat have an enormous impact on human health, but the investment growth opportunities associated with treating these high-need, global-scale diseases are equally large.”

Hepion recently announced a new mechanism by which rencofilstat exerts anti-cancer activity in liver cancer and the drug’s anti-cancer activity in numerous cell lines representing 86% of cancer types.

The Viruses journal article, entitled “The Cyclophilin Inhibitor Rencofilstat Decreases HCV-Induced Carcinoma Independently of Its Antiviral Activity”, can be accessed here.

About Hepion Pharmaceuticals

The Company's lead drug candidate, rencofilstat, is a potent inhibitor of cyclophilins, which are involved in many disease processes. Rencofilstat has been shown to reduce liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma tumor burden in experimental disease models and is currently in Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of NASH. In November 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) granted Fast Track designation for rencofilstat for the treatment of NASH. That was followed in June 2022 by the FDA’s granting of Orphan Drug designation to rencofilstat for the treatment of HCC.

Hepion has created a proprietary Artificial Intelligence deep machine learning (“AI/ML”) platform designed to better understand disease processes and identify patients that are rencofilstat responders. This AI/ML has the potential to shorten development timelines and increase the observable differences between placebo and treatment groups. In addition, Hepion’s AI/ML can be used to drive its ongoing NASH and HCC clinical development programs and identify other potential therapeutic indications for cyclophilin inhibition with rencofilstat.