Benzinga | Apr 15, 2021 05:47PM EDT

Exclusive: Axcella Health Aims To Become The Standard Of Care

Axcella Health Inc (NASDAQ:AXLA) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on endogenous metabolic modulators, or EEMs, said Axcella Health CEO Bill Hinshaw Thursday on Benzinga's YouTube show "Power Hour."

Axcella Health has two "rapidly progressing" Phase II late-stage clinical development programs, he said.

The company earlier announced Phase II clinical trials for its drug to treat nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, which the CEO explained as a complex fatty liver disease, adding that more than 40 million Americans have it.

Hinshaw told Benzinga that NASH will be an $8 billion-plus market by 2027 and the company expects to be one of the leaders in the treatment of NASH.

The Science: Axcella Health tries to figure out "what biologies are dysregulated" and how to "put together a composition to address them simultaneously in an integrated way," Hinshaw said. The company is able to test in the most relevant setting possible -- people with the disease, he added.

Axcella Health has multiple opportunities as a "platform company," Hinshaw said. The company is processing multiple drugs to treat liver diseases.

The CEO told Benzinga that the company's goal is to "improve on the standard of care and then hopefully become [the standard]."

Price Action: Axcella Health was down 2.07% to $4.26 Thursday at market close.

(Image by Darko Stojanovic from Pixabay)