AusperBio
AusperBio develops antisense oligonucleotide and siRNA therapies aimed at a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B.
Founded
2019AusperBio develops antisense oligonucleotide and siRNA therapies aimed at a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B.
AusperBio's pipeline centers on AHB-137, an unconjugated antisense oligonucleotide built on the proprietary Med-Oligo platform. It is designed to reduce hepatitis B surface antigen at the source, suppress viral DNA replication and restore immune function.
The second clinical candidate, AHB-171, is a hepatocyte-targeted siRNA created with the Au-HALO liver-targeting delivery platform and intended to broaden the company's hepatitis B options. A preclinical pipeline extends both platforms toward combination regimens and additional disease areas.
Chronic hepatitis B affects an estimated 254 million people worldwide and causes roughly 1.1 million deaths a year, mostly from cirrhosis and liver cancer, according to World Health Organization figures cited by the company. Current therapies suppress viral replication but rarely produce a functional cure.
That gap keeps most patients on indefinite treatment and defines the opening a finite-duration regimen would address. Hepatologists commenting on the Phase IIa results framed a functional cure rate near 30% as the bar a curative hepatitis B regimen must clear, which is the standard AusperBio's lead program is being measured against.
End-of-follow-up Phase IIa data presented at HEP-DART 2025 showed a finite 24-week course of AHB-137 monotherapy reaching a 30% functional cure rate at Week 72 in patients whose baseline surface antigen was 100-1,000 IU/mL. Investigators described that level as the threshold global experts treat as a milestone for a curative regimen.
Every patient in that study stayed HBV DNA negative for 24 weeks after stopping nucleoside analogue therapy, and no drug-related serious adverse events or treatment discontinuations were reported. Owning both an antisense backbone and a matched siRNA delivery platform lets the company assemble combination regimens from internal assets rather than through partners.
Every AusperBio program is investigational and none has been approved by any regulator, so the company has no marketed product and its near-term value rests on a single lead asset. The Phase IIa cure rate also narrows outside the best-responding group, falling to 13% and 19% across the wider 100-3,000 IU/mL baseline band.
The registrational Phase 3 study for AHB-137 is running in China, leaving approval and commercialization in other markets dependent on further work. Splitting research and clinical operations between the United States and China means the company must satisfy separate regulators, and it has sought clinical clearances individually in New Zealand, China and the United States.