Hillstream agrees to acquire clinical stage asset for chronic pruritis

Hillstream BioPharma announces an exclusive option agreement to acquire a clinical stage asset, AV104, with a recently approved IND. “AV104 has a dual mechanism of action by affecting multiple receptors, known to suppress chronic, debilitating pruritis or ‘uncontrollable itching’. The company intends to first seek approval in an orphan disease for the treatment of moderate to severe cholestatic pruritis in patients with primary biliary cholangitis, PBC, a rare form of liver disease with no known cure in which more than 70% of patients suffer from chronic pruritis,” the company stated. “The past year has been a period of transformational change for our company. This exclusive option allows the company to bring a clinical-stage asset into the organization as we shift into a patient-focused biotechnology organization. This signifies our next step as we grow into a business model focused on clinical development,” said Randy Milby, CEO of Hillstream.