The 53rd annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (AASLD) in Boston began Friday and runs through today.

• Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Diego, and LG Life Sciences Ltd., of Seoul, South Korea, reported results from a recently completed Phase I/II trial of ANA380 to treat hepatitis B showing the compound reduced viral load by an average of 3.4 log¹⁰ units, or more than 99.9 percent, in the chronically infected patients receiving doses of 60 mg or more for four weeks. Data also demonstrated that oral administration for 28 days was well tolerated and safe at all doses studied.

• Enzo Biochem Inc., of Farmingdale, N.Y., presented preclinical data on its new immunomodulatory agent, EGS21, a beta-D-glucosylceramide compound (GC). In animal models, GC was shown to impact the immune response by modulating the function of an immune regulatory cell called NKT.

• Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said NM 283, a Phase IIa antiviral agent, demonstrated a 94 percent mean viral load reduction from baseline in patients with chronic hepatitis C after 15 days of treatment. The reduction was seen in a cohort of patients receiving the monotherapy at 800 mg per day. Interim results evaluating the combination of NM 283 and pegylated interferon demonstrated that the 12 patients receiving therapy achieved a mean viral load reduction of 99.8 percent after 28 days of treatment. NM 283 is an oral nucleoside analogue co-discovered by Idenix and the University of Cagliari in Italy.

• InterMune Inc., of Brisbane, Calif., presented preclinical data on the discovery and characterization of a number of selective small-molecule inhibitors of the hepatitis C NS3/4 protease. Scientists from InterMune and Array BioPharma Inc., of Boulder, Colo., worked in collaboration to discover the inhibitors, extending the companies' collaboration, which began in 2002. Separately, InterMune presented interim findings from a clinical analysis of the combination of daily Infergen plus three-times-per-week Actimmune in HCV patients who have failed to respond to first-line treatment with pegylated interferon-alpha-2 plus ribavirin. After 24 weeks, 46 percent had viral loads below the levels of detection.

• SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., reported that triple therapy of Zadaxin combined with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in a pilot trial in Mexico showed a sustained virologic response in 19 percent of the difficult-to-treat hepatitis C patients, non-responders infected with the genotype-1 strain of the virus. The trial enrolled 25 Hispanic patients infected with HCV.

• Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., said VX-950 was well tolerated and has favorable pharmacokinetic properties in healthy volunteers, according to Phase Ia data. The Phase I placebo-controlled study assessed safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in escalating, single oral doses of VX-950 ranging from 25 mg to 1,250 mg. Vertex expects to initiate a multidose Phase Ib study this month in Europe.