Medivir AB to initiate phase 1 clinical trials for MIV-818 in 2018

After successful completion of pre-clinical safety studies for MIV-818 which is Medivir AB’s liver targeted nucleotide prodrug for diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma and other forms of liver cancer thus embarking on conducting phase 1 clinical trials in 2018. It has been termed to be the first development project to emerge from Medivir’s in-house drug discovery attempts in oncology.

Liver cancer has been termed to encompass cancer related death globally and HCC is witnessed to occur widely having been classified as an orphan disease in the West but is more detected in Asia particularly China. MIV-818 claims to become the first liver-targeted, orally administered drug to alleviate HCC type of liver cancer.

Richard Bethell, Medivir’s Chief Scientific Officer stated “Patients with HCC and other forms of liver cancer are in urgent need of new treatment options. MIV-818 has been designed to deliver high levels of the active form of the drug to the liver after oral administration, while minimizing its exposure elsewhere in the body. This targeted approach to cancer chemotherapy has the potential to be an important new treatment for liver cancers, either alone or in combination with other therapeutic modalities.”