Spring Bank’s HBV therapy on hold after signs of liver damage

Spring Bank’s revelation of liver toxicity in chronic HBV patients treated with inarigivir soproxil in a Phase IIb trial sent the company’s shares down 67% Thursday; however, the readout doesn’t necessarily mean that immuno-oncology therapies with the same mechanism will yield the same safety signal.

Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SBPH) fell $2.41 to $1.20, ending the day at a $19.8 million market cap, after stopping dosing and enrollment of all clinical studies of the small molecule-nucleic acid hybrid that agonizes RIG-I...