Genfit Says Safety/Tolerability Will Give Elafibranor An Edge In NASH

With two companies in Phase III in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and another candidate on the cusp of pivotal trials, Genfit SA is making an argument that its elafibranor – advancing on roughly the same timeline as the other Phase III candidate, Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Ocaliva – will hold an edge due to a better safety and tolerability profile and emerge as the therapy of choice in first-line usage.

Chief Scientific Officer/Chief Operating Officer Dean Hum conceded in an interview that elafibranor – a peroxisome proliferator accelerator receptor (PPAR) alpha/delta agonist – has shown relatively similar efficacy in clinical studies compared to the farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonist Ocaliva (obeticholic acid)