Hepion Pharmaceuticals Expands SAB with Appointments of Four Liver Disease KOLs
30 Mars 2023 - 2:45PM
Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEPA), a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on Artificial Intelligence
(“AI”)-driven therapeutic drug development for the treatment of
fibrotic diseases, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis
(“NASH”), hepatocellular carcinoma (“HCC”), and other chronic
diseases, announces the addition of four new internationally
recognized thought leaders to its Scientific Advisory Board
(“SAB”), effective immediately.
These new members, who bring decades of liver
disease research and drug development experience to the Hepion SAB,
include:
- Rohit
Loomba, MD, a Professor of Medicine; Director of
Hepatology; Vice Chief, Division of Gastroenterology; and Founding
Director of the NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) Research
Center at the University of California at San Diego (“UCSD”). He is
the founding director of the UCSD NAFLD Research Center, where his
team is conducting cutting edge research in all aspects of NAFLD,
including non-invasive biomarkers, genetics, epidemiology, clinical
trial design, imaging endpoints, and integrated OMICs using
microbiome, metabolome and lipidome. Dr. Loomba has published more
than 350 manuscripts and has an H-index of 99. He serves on the
editorial boards of Gastroenterology, Journal of Hepatology, GUT,
and Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
- Vlad
Ratziu, MD, a Professor of Hepatology at Sorbonne
University and Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, France. His
main research interests are in the field of NAFLD; the mechanisms,
risk factors, and progression of liver fibrosis in viral and
metabolic diseases; and the treatment of viral hepatitis and HCC.
He has participated in early-, mid-, and late-stage trials of NASH
and has published more than 260 articles in prominent journals. He
is a co-editor for the Journal of Hepatology and is an associate
editor for Clinical Liver Disease.
- Yury V.
Popov, MD, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center (“BIDMC”) and Harvard Medical
School. He is also an Associate Editor of the American Journal of
Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, and an ad hoc
reviewer for over 30 scientific journals. Dr. Yury Popov’s
laboratory’s major research focus is on liver fibrosis/cirrhosis
and its life-threatening sequelae. Specifically, his team
investigates the basic mechanisms of progression and regression of
liver scarring, with the goal of the development of non-invasive
diagnostic tools to measure these processes in the clinic, and
novel therapies to prevent and reverse cirrhosis and its
life-threatening complications, such as primary liver cancers.
- Nikolai
Naoumov, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist with a
professional career spanning academia, clinical care, and drug
development - all focused on liver diseases. He is Fellow of both
the Royal College of Physicians (London) and the Royal College of
Pathologists (UK). His research has integrated immunology,
molecular biology and translational medicine in elucidating
virus-host interactions and mechanisms of liver injury. Most
recently, Dr. Naoumov expanded his contributions to medical science
and clinical hepatology as Global Head, Therapeutic Area Hepatology
and Transplantation at Novartis.
The new Hepion SAB members join existing members
Stephen Harrison, MD (Chair) and Philippe Gallay, PhD.
“On behalf of everyone at Hepion, I would like
to welcome Drs. Loomba, Ratziu, Popov and Naoumov to our team,”
commented Robert Foster, PharmD, PhD, Hepion’s Chief Executive
Officer. “They each bring a wealth of invaluable experience, which
we will rely on to help make many key decisions related to our
rencofilstat NASH clinical programs, as well as to guide other
areas of interest in fibrosis related diseases.”
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 AI platform,
called AI-POWR™, which stands for Artificial
Intelligence - Precision
Medicine; Omics (including genomics, proteomics,
metabolomics, transcriptomics, and lipidomics);
World database access; and
Response and clinical outcomes. Hepion intends to
use AI-POWR™ to help identify which NASH patients will best respond
to rencofilstat, potentially shortening development timelines and
increasing the observable differences between placebo and treatment
groups. In addition to using AI-POWR™ to drive its ongoing NASH
clinical development program, Hepion intends to use the platform to
identify additional potential indications for rencofilstat to
expand the company's footprint in the cyclophilin inhibition
therapeutic space.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are
forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified
by the use of forward-looking words such as “anticipate,”
“believe,” “forecast,” “estimated,” and “intend,” among others.
These forward-looking statements are based on Hepion
Pharmaceuticals’ current expectations and actual results could
differ materially. There are a number of factors that could cause
actual events to differ materially from those indicated by such
forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not
limited to, substantial competition; our ability to continue as a
going concern; our need for additional financing; uncertainties of
patent protection and litigation; risks associated with delays,
increased costs and funding shortages caused by the COVID-19
pandemic; uncertainties with respect to lengthy and expensive
clinical trials, that results of earlier studies and trials may not
be predictive of future trial results; uncertainties of government
or third party payer reimbursement; limited sales and marketing
efforts and dependence upon third parties; and risks related to
failure to obtain FDA clearances or approvals and noncompliance
with FDA regulations. As with any drug candidates under
development, there are significant risks in the development,
regulatory approval, and commercialization of new products. There
are no guarantees that future clinical trials discussed in this
press release will be completed or successful, or that any product
will receive regulatory approval for any indication or prove to be
commercially successful. Hepion Pharmaceuticals does not undertake
an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.
Investors should read the risk factors set forth in Hepion
Pharmaceuticals’ Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021,
and other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
For further information, please contact:
Stephen KilmerHepion Pharmaceuticals Investor
RelationsDirect: (646)
274-3580skilmer@hepionpharma.com
Hepion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:HEPA)
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