GSK discontinues development of maturation inhibitor BMS-955176
29 November 2016. Related: Antiretrovirals.
Simon Collins, HIV i-Base
On 26 October 2016, a pharmaceutical news list announced that GSK will stop development of the lead maturation inhibitor BMS-955176. [1]
This compound was acquired from Bristol-Myers Squibb last year and was already in phase 2b studies.
The announcement was made by GSK CEO Andrew Witty on a routine quarterly earnings call but has not yet been announced more formally.
The decision to end the development programme early was based on 24-week results from study AI468-038, a Phase 2b dose finding study in treatment naive patients, because of gastrointestinal intolerability and treatment-emergent drug resistance. [2]
The ongoing studies with BMS-955176 (AI468-038 and AI468-048) will end early.
Other earlier stage molecules were also acquired when GSK bought the BMS preclinical HIV pipeline in December 2015. This included a second maturation inhibitor in earlier development (BMS-986173) which will continue to be developed.
Comment
This is disappointing news as maturation inhibitors would expect to be active about HIV that is multi-drug resistant to HIV medicines from other classes.
The announcement referred to continuing development of two other maturation inhibitor compounds. As these are at earlier stages of development, this will set back the timeline for access.
References:
- Lawrence S. GSK drops a pair of late-stage candidates in COPD. FierceBiotec.com (26 October 2016).
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/gsk-drops-a-pair-late-stage-candidates-copd-hiv - Personal communication, ViiV Healthcare (31 October 2016).