Cytheris' CYT107 enters Ph I/IIa trial

Cytheris SA, a French clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has initiated a multicenter Phase I/IIa dose escalation study in Taiwan to assess the safety and tolerability of repeated administration of recombinant human interleukin-7 (CYT107) as an add-on therapy in the treatment of patients infected with genotype-1 hepatitis C and who previously have proven non-responsive to standard treatment.

The multicenter study follows two other ongoing trials and will evaluate, at week-12, the safety of biologically-active doses of CYT107 added to a combination therapy of pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin in Asian patients with chronic infection by genotype-1 HCV who have not responded to this combination therapy.

"In addressing these patients who have failed to respond to the standard interferon-based treatment for HCV, we are confronting a significant unmet medical need faced by people and health care systems on a global scale," said company chief executive Michel Morre. "After failing the standard combination therapy, patients and their physicians are left with virtually no available treatment options that can arrest this silent but nevertheless progressive liver disease," he added.