AATD-associated liver disease is a progressive condition resulting in liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and in some cases hepatocellular carcinoma. The lack of functional alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) in individuals with the PiZZ genotype, in conjunction with other precipitating factors, can lead to unchecked activity of neutrophil elastases in the alveoli; causing emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This loss-of-function mechanism may be addressed by use of intravenous augmentation therapy, which aims to substitute the missing AAT by infusing alpha-1 proteinase inhibitor (A1PI), purified from pooled human plasma.~While augmentation therapy can address the loss of AAT in the lung, no treatment exists for the associated liver disease.~Given the severity of the disease, with approximately 10% of affected patients developing liver cirrhosis and a subgroup of those patients in need of liver transplantation, and the lack of an effective treatment that addresses the toxic hepatic gain-of-function mechanism, there is an urgent unmet medical need to develop a therapy that can help this particular patient population.
This is a multiple dose, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of belcesiran to evaluate the safety, tolerability, PK, and PD in adult patients with PiZZ AATD-associated liver disease (AATLD).~The study will be conducted in 3 separate cohorts. A total of up to 16 participants may be enrolled in Cohort 1 and 2. A total number of 30 subjects will be enrolled in cohort 3. The 3 cohorts are differentiated by the duration of the treatment period, the number of doses administered, and the timing of the second liver biopsy.