SYDNEY, Australia - Amrad Corp. Ltd. is moving a potential treatment for chronic hepatitis B virus infection into Phase II testing following successful completion of Phase I trials.

Research director John Flack said that the small study (around 12 subjects) had shown that the treatment, called AM365, was safe and showed "good absorption" in the blood, although the results are still being analyzed.

The treatment will now go to Phase II trials early next year, but the trials are still being planned and no details are available.

Flack commented that some of the subjects for the trials are likely to be recruited in Southeast Asia, probably Singapore, as hepatitis B is widespread in the region.

When AM365 reaches Phase II trials, Melbourne-based Amrad will have three treatments in or just completing Phase II, including AM336 and AM424, for which the company has registered the name Emfilermin with the World Health Organization.

AM336, for the treatment of chronic severe pain, is in an eight-patient Phase I/II trial. AM424, or Emfilermin, is a treatment for peripheral neuropathy, often associated with cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and is now being tested in a 180-subject double-blind trial.

Flack said that results for all the trials will be available about the same time, 12 months from now, or around September 2001.