Arbutus Biopharma announces 2023 corporate objectives

Arbutus Biopharma announced its 2023 corporate objectives and provided a financial update. William Collier, President and CEO of Arbutus Biopharma, stated, "Building upon our accomplishments in 2022, we are poised in this coming year to expand our clinical footprint in HBV with the initiation of clinical trials for two of our HBV assets: AB-101, our oral PD-L1 inhibitor, and AB-161, our next generation oral RNA destabilizer. In 2023, we also anticipate obtaining data in our AB-729 HBV clinical trials, which we believe will inform our path forward to a combination curative regimen for patients with cHBV. In addition, we are excited to move our newly nominated pan-coronavirus Mpro compound, AB-343, into the clinic. With a strong balance sheet, we are well capitalized to fund our 2023 corporate objectives and we expect our cash runway to extend into the fourth quarter of 2024." 2023 Corporate Objectives: HBV Franchise: Announce additional off-treatment data from AB-729-001, our Phase 1a/1b clinical trial, in the first half of 2023. Announce preliminary data from patients receiving PEG-IFNalpha-2a in the Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating the combination of AB-729, our RNAi therapeutic, nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy and IFN in the first half of 2023. Amend the Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating AB-729, NA therapy and Vaccitech’s therapeutic vaccine, VTP-300, to include an additional arm with nivolumab, and dose first patient in this arm in the first half of 2023. Announce preliminary data from patients who received AB-729, NA and VTP-300 in the second half of 2023. Initiate a Phase 1 healthy subject clinical trial with AB-161 in the first half of 2023; single-ascending dose data is expected from the clinical trial in the second half of 2023. Initiate a Phase 1 healthy subject clinical trial with AB-101 in the first half of 2023; data is expected from the single-ascending dose portion of the clinical trial in the second half of 2023. Coronavirus Franchise: Complete IND-enabling studies and initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial with AB-343, our lead candidate that inhibits the SARS-CoV-2 nsp5 main protease, in the second half of 2023. Nominate an nsp12 clinical candidate and initiate IND-enabling studies in the second half of 2023.