It was just over one year ago that Tekmira Pharmaceuticals (TKMR) changed its name to Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS), and its focus to HBV, moving away from its roots as a developer of Lipid Nanoparticle delivery technology (LNP) via its merger with OnCore BioPharma. Privately, OnCore garnered interest for its management team: some of the initial developers of Gilead’s (GILD) Sovaldi (sofosbuvir).
Today, the investment community couldn’t care less, and Arbutus has scrapped two of the programs once-touted as reason for the OnCore merger: the TLR9 agonist ARB-1598, and OCB-030, a cyclophilin inhibitor. The company expected both to be used in combination regimens for the treatment of HBV, and while Arbutus still maintains that combinations are the future, investors have written off the pipeline right alongside management.
It’s a hated company, reflected in the stock’s performance. But, some upcoming data could change the tide.
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