Albireo Exits NASH, But Has Best-In-Class IBAT Opportunity

Albireo Pharma, Inc. has determined that although its non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) candidate elobixibat reduced LDL cholesterol at statistical significance compared to placebo in a Phase II study, it is not continuing study of that drug in NASH because its overall therapeutic profile is “unremarkable.”

So even with a study that hit its primary endpoint, Albireo’s NASH program amounts to another setback in that disease, which has seen numerous clinical and regulatory disappointments this year. Analysts, however, are sanguine about the Boston biotech’s decision to walk away from the competitive R&D space because they perceive the company’s other clinical candidate, odevixibat, as a potentially best-in-class therapy for pediatric cholestatic liver disease