Arbutus Biopharma Corp
NASDAQ:ABUS
Arbutus Biopharma Corp
Arbutus Biopharma Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company. The company is headquartered in Warminster, Pennsylvania and currently employs 85 full-time employees. The company went IPO on 2010-11-13. The firm is focused on virology capabilities to develop therapeutics that target specific viral diseases. The Company’s focus areas include Hepatitis B virus (HBV), SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. In HBV, the Company is developing a ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) therapeutic, oral capsid inhibitor, an oral PD-L1 inhibitor, and oral RNA destabilizer that it intends to combine to provide a functional cure for patients with chronic HBV infection (cHBV) by suppressing viral replication, reducing surface antigen and reawakening the immune system. Its lead compound, AB-729, is the only RNAi therapeutic with evidence of immune re-awakening and is being evaluated in multiple Phase II clinical trials. The firm is having an ongoing drug discovery and development program directed at identifying orally active agents for treating coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2).
Arbutus Biopharma Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company. The company is headquartered in Warminster, Pennsylvania and currently employs 85 full-time employees. The company went IPO on 2010-11-13. The firm is focused on virology capabilities to develop therapeutics that target specific viral diseases. The Company’s focus areas include Hepatitis B virus (HBV), SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses. In HBV, the Company is developing a ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) therapeutic, oral capsid inhibitor, an oral PD-L1 inhibitor, and oral RNA destabilizer that it intends to combine to provide a functional cure for patients with chronic HBV infection (cHBV) by suppressing viral replication, reducing surface antigen and reawakening the immune system. Its lead compound, AB-729, is the only RNAi therapeutic with evidence of immune re-awakening and is being evaluated in multiple Phase II clinical trials. The firm is having an ongoing drug discovery and development program directed at identifying orally active agents for treating coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2).
Cash Position: Arbutus ended Q3 2024 with $131 million in cash and investments, projecting its current funds will last into Q4 2026 without assuming additional capital raising.
HBV Program Progress: Positive Phase IIa data for imdusiran in combination with interferon showed up to 33% of all patients, and 67% of those with low initial surface antigen, achieved and sustained antigen loss, a leading result in the field.
Upcoming Data: The company anticipates presenting new data from its IM-PROVE I and IM-PROVE II trials at the upcoming AASLD Liver Meeting, including results from the nivolumab (anti-PD-1) combination arm.
AB-101 Advancement: The oral PD-L1 inhibitor AB-101 showed strong safety and target engagement in healthy volunteers, and is now being tested in HBV patients with initial data expected in the first half of 2025.
Litigation Updates: Key legal milestones are set, with the Moderna trial scheduled for September 2025 and a claim construction hearing in the Pfizer/BioNTech case slated for December 2024.
Functional Cure Goal: Management reiterated a 20% functional cure rate as a meaningful benchmark for new HBV therapies and is designing future trials to target and possibly exceed this threshold.
