Abzena, Gilead drop Chron Disease drug after Phase II study

Abzena has issued a statement in which it notes that during the conference call to accompany Gilead Sciences Inc.’s (‘Gilead’) announcement of third quarter earnings on November 1,2016, Gilead stated that no further development of simtuzumab will be pursued. In addition, GS-5745 will not be progressed further for Crohns Disease.

This follows on from the announcement on October 20, 2016 of top line Phase II clinical study results of Gilead’s product, GS-4997 (selonsertib) in combination with the investigational monoclonal antibody, simtuzumab (SIM) or SIM alone, in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Simtuzumab and GS-5745 are part of a range of products created using Abzena’s Composite Human Antibody technology that its partners have been progressing in clinical development.