4 January 2017 - Enanta Pharmaceuticals  today announced that the U.S. FDA has granted Enanta’s drug candidate EDP-305, an FXR agonist, fast track designation for the treatment of patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with liver fibrosis.

EDP-305 is currently in Phase 1 clinical development. Enanta’s double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1a/b study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single ascending doses (SAD) and multiple ascending doses (MAD) of EDP-305 in healthy adults, and in adults with presumptive non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (obese, with or without pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes). The study will enroll approximately 90 subjects and is planned to evaluate up to 5 dose cohorts, with EDP-305 administered orally, once daily.

The current study includes subjects with presumptive NAFLD in order to obtain initial safety data and additional data regarding the relationship between EDP-305 plasma concentration levels and certain pharmacological effects in the context of fatty liver disease. This relationship will be explored by using biomarkers that are relevant to the disease and to the activity of EDP-305, such as evaluation of lipids, glucose, insulin resistance and specific markers of FXR activity.

Read Enanta Pharmaceuticals press release