Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis (sAH)

Severe Alcoholic Hepatitis (sAH)

Severe alcoholic hepatitis (sAH) is a deadly liver disease that occurs following a spike in alcohol consumption, increasing the risk of liver failure and death. As therapeutic options are limited, SD ELAD Biotechnology is committed to developing a potentially life-saving treatment option for this underserved patient population based on a large number of R & D activities and clinical trials in the United States.

• Severe alcoholic hepatitis (sAH) is a type of acute liver decompensation that is directly related to excessive consumption of alcohol. sAH is characterized by inflammation, cytokine storm and enlargement of the liver.

• An estimated 30,000 people in the US and 114,100 people in China die of alcoholic hepatitis every year, accounting for 1.3% of the total mortality; 2,737,000 people are disabled, accounting for 3.0% of the total disability rate.⁴ Each year patients suffer from a particularly debilitating form of sAH that is associated with significant mortality and a hospital stay of at least three days.⁵ Each year 80,000 people in the U.S. and Europe suffer from acute forms of liver failure, which can result in a mortality rate of up to 50 percent.

• Treatment options for patients with sAH are limited.⁶ The current standard of care includes corticosteroids, n-acetyl cysteine with corticosteroids, and pentoxifylline, but none have been shown to significantly affect long-term survival. While patients with sAH can appear stable and even dischargeable from the hospital, their prognosis following treatment with standard of care is grim. Mortality at 90 days is approximately 40 percent.⁷