Replicor publishes follow-on study expanding its mechanistic understanding of REP 2139

id="blogpagemain" class="fl-col fl-node-5fdb77efc3caa" data-node="5fdb77efc3caa"> MONTREAL,  June 23 rd , 2020 – Replicor Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company targeting a cure for patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and chronic HBV and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) co-infection, announces the publication of an expanded  in vitro  study of the antiviral effects of REP 2139 in HBV entitled “Characterization of the antiviral effects of REP 2139 on the HBV lifecycle in vitro” in the journal Antiviral Research. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166354220302679 Replicor’s ongoing collaboration with Dr. Patrick Labonté at the Institute Armand Frappier, (IAF-INRS, Laval, Quebec, Canada) has the overall goal of identifying the antiviral and molecular mechanisms of NAPs. This latest publication established the following: The specific inhibition of the assembly / secretion of HBV subviral particles with little to no impact on secretion of HBeAg or Dane particles. The identification of previously characterized, constitutive HBsAg proteolytic mechanisms driving the reduction in intracellular HBsAg observed in the presence of NAPs. Little to no effect on the transcription / translation of viral RNAs, DNA or proteins by NAPs. Dr. Andrew Vaillant, CSO at Replicor commented, “The  in vitro  investigation of NAPs is complicated by the absence of intracellular trafficking normally occurring in vivo. Early independent investigations demonstrated numerous  in vitro  artifacts (verified by  in vivo  and human efficacy data) with transfection (including RNAiMax) demonstrating the unsuitability of this approach for evaluating the antiviral mechanisms of NAPs or their efficacy  in vitro . This necessitated the development of a novel  in vitro  system (described in our previous  publication ) which both restored normal intracellular trafficking of NAPs  in vitro  and produced results consistent with  in vivo  and human efficacy data with a wide variety of differentially modified NAPs. This second publication from Dr. Labonté’s lab uses this same model system to establish the specific and selective effect of NAPs on the assembly and secretion of HBV SVP and is currently being used to identify host target(s) of NAPs involved in the assembly / secretion of HBV SVPs”. A detailed summary of the issues with evaluating the mechanism and efficacy of NAPs  in vitro  with transfection can be found  here . About Replicor Replicor is a privately held biopharmaceutical company with the most advanced animal and human clinical data in the development of the cure for HBV and HDV. The company is dedicated to accelerating the development of an effective treatment for patients with HBV and HBV/HDV co-infection. For further information about Replicor please visit our website at  www.replicor.com . Media Contact: Natacha Dorget [email protected] (514) 733-1998

The release as fetched from its publisher. replicor.com ↗