How biotechs are revolutionizing acute on-chronic liver failure?

Acute on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a significant healthcare issue with high unmet needs for patients and clinicians, and a massive burden for healthcare systems. It cost more than $6bn in the US alone in 2021, with a drastic increase over the last 10 years. 

Genfit is a late-stage biopharma company taking on rare, life-threatening liver diseases with a range of therapeutic targets based on pathophysiology. The company has five assets in its portfolio, from preclinical up to phase 2.

Its ACLF portfolio includes five assets under development: VS-01, NTZ, SRT-015, CLM-022 and VS-02-HE, based on complementary mechanisms of action using different routes of administration. Other assets target other diseases, such as cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), urea cycle disorder (UCD) and organic acidemia (OA). 

Genfit carried out a successful 52-week phase 3 ELATIVE study evaluating elafibranor in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). 

It also has a diagnostic franchise including NIS2+ in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly known as NASH or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) and TS-01 focusing on blood ammonia levels.

On the podcast this week to talk to us about the latest in liver disease treatment is Dean Hum, the chief scientific officer at Genfit.

00:45-05:09: About Genfit
05:09-06:59: What is acute on-chronic liver disease (ACLF)?
06:59-08:30: What is the prognosis for those with ACLF?
08:30-08:52: Are there any current treatments for ACLF?
08:52-10:13: What is EF-CLIF?
10:13-12:41: What is the EASL-CLIF general assembly?
12:41-14:01: What is your connection to Ipsen’s work with elafibrinor?
14:01-16:00: Why has there been so little work on ACLF?
16:00-16:46: Are others working on ACLF?
16:46-19:25: What is your approach to developing ACLF treatments?
19:25-24:31: How do your ACLF treatments work?
24:31-25:08: Will you need to do trials on the effect of the combination of your assets?
25:08-28:37: What are your hopes for patients with ACLF?