Verve: Verve Therapeutics Touts Positive Data From Gene Editing Medicine To Lower Cholesterol After Single Dose

Verve Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VERV) on Monday released initial data from the Heart-2 Phase 1b trial of VERVE-102 in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) and/or premature coronary artery disease (CAD), which requires reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in the blood.VERVE-102 was well-tolerated among 14 participants across three dose levels. No treatment-related serious adverse events (SAEs) and no clinically significant laboratory abnormalities were observed.A single infusion of VERVE-102 led to dose-dependent decreases in blood PCSK9 protein (regulates cholesterol metabolism) levels and LDL-C, with a mean reduction in blood LDL-C of 53% and a maximum LDL-C reduction of 69% observed among four participants in the 0.6 mg/kg dose cohort.VERVE-102 is a novel, in vivo, investigational base editing medicine designed to be a single-course treatment that permanently turns off the PCSK9 gene in the liver and durably reduces disease-driving LDL-C.VERVE-102 comprises an adenine base editor and a guide RNA (gRNA) ...Full story available on Benzinga.com