Sep. 11 at 4:13 PM
$ALT
Professor ChatGPT:
(part 1)
Yes — this is a very big deal for Altimmune and for the entire MASH drug development space. Let me break down why:
1. Biopsy bottleneck has been the single biggest hurdle in MASH trials
• Until now, liver biopsy was the gold standard endpoint in MASH clinical trials.
• Biopsies are invasive, painful, risky, expensive, and discourage both trial recruitment and long-term participation.
• For Altimmune’s pembio (pemvidutide) program, like other drugs in MASH, this has slowed enrollment, increased trial costs, and added delays.
If FibroScan (non-invasive liver stiffness measurement, VCTE) becomes accepted as a surrogate endpoint, it removes the largest barrier to MASH trial speed and scalability.
⸻
