Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced results from a study with in which the anti-cancer activity of Hepion's lead drug candidate, rencofilstat, was tested in a high through-put screen on 850 cancer cell lines spanning 28 types of cancer at the PRISM lab at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The Broad Institute is one of the few institutions in the world with such an expansive cancer cell line screening program. By utilizing advanced technologies and global collaborations, the Broad Institute has become a global leader in understanding cancer and other human diseases and helping to develop effective therapeutics.

Rencofilstat was administered at eight concentrations to each cancer cell line in culture for 5 days, followed by measurement of surviving cells to determine how effectively the drug candidate killed or suppressed proliferation of the cancer cells. Defining "anti-cancer responsiveness" as 50% or greater reduction in viability following treatment, 26% of all tested cancer cell lines (220/850) spanning 86% of cancer cell types (24/28) were responsive to rencofilstat. Some of the rencofilstat-sensitive cell lines were HCC cells, which further supports Hepion's plans for a clinical trial in this indication.

Furthermore, the reductions inviability in responsive cells occurred at drug concentrations similar to those observed in individuals participating in Hepion's NASH clinical trials. Thus, administration of rencofilstat to cancer patients with the standard regimen of once-daily oral dosing may be efficacious for those with responsive types of cancer. The screening study also integrated additional information collected by the Broad Institute about the cancer cell lines, such as gene mutations, gene expression, and protein and metabolic profiles, to provide insights into rencofilstat's mechanisms of action and identify biomarkers associated with its anti-cancer activity.