Conatus Gets Orphan Drug Status For Liver Drug Emricasan - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CNAT) said Monday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Orphan Drug status to its drug candidate emricasan for the treatment of liver transplant recipients with reestablished fibrosis to delay the progression to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease.

Conatus is developing emricasan, a first-in-class, orally active caspase protease inhibitor designed to reduce the activity of enzymes that mediate inflammation and cell death for the treatment of patients with chronic liver disease and significant unmet medical need.

According to the company, to date, emricasan has been studied in over 500 subjects in ten clinical trials. In a randomized Phase 2b clinical trial, emricasan demonstrated statistically significant, consistent and rapid reduction in elevated levels of two key biomarkers of inflammation and cell death that are implicated in the severity and progression of liver disease.

Emricasan is currently in a Phase 2b clinical trial in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure, as well as a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis.