Inhibitex announces initiation of INX-189 Phase 1b clinical trial for HCV infection

Inhibitex, Inc. (NASDAQ: INHX), announced today that it has initiated a Phase 1b, multiple ascending dose (MAD) clinical trial of INX-189, its nucleotide polymerase inhibitor in development for the treatment of chronic infections caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). The trial, which is being conducted under an IND in the United States, is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose escalation study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and anti-viral activity of INX-189 administered orally once daily for seven days in treatment naïve patients with HCV genotype 1. Each treatment cohort will include 10 patients, eight of which will receive INX-189 and two of which will receive placebo. The first cohort in the Phase 1b study will receive 9 mg of INX-189 once daily. In addition to evaluating INX-189 as monotherapy, the Company plans to evaluate two dose levels of INX-189 administered once daily for seven days in combination with ribavirin, which is one of the drugs currently approved for the treatment of HCV. The dose levels of INX-189 to be evaluated in combination with ribavirin will be determined based upon the results of the monotherapy cohorts.

“The initiation of this proof of concept study in patients with chronic hepatitis C marks an important milestone in the clinical development of INX-189”

"The initiation of this proof of concept study in patients with chronic hepatitis C marks an important milestone in the clinical development of INX-189," stated Dr. Joseph Patti, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Inhibitex, Inc. "We believe that dosing INX-189 both as monotherapy and in combination with ribavirin in this study will enhance our ability to assess the anticipated anti-viral synergies of the two agents and allow us to better define the most appropriate doses of INX-189 to evaluate in future clinical trials."