Shares of Regulus Therapeutics (RGLS) soared as much as 100% in one trading session after the company released some early data for their Hepatitis C drug.

Regulus is a biotechnology company that is investigating the use of microRNA. Here's what the company says about it:

About microRNAs
microRNAs are small naturally occurring non-coding RNAs that are 20 to 25 nucleotides in length. microRNAs regulate expression of target genes through sequence-specific hybridization to the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of messenger RNAs and either block translation or direct degradation of their target messenger RNAs. This novel class of small non-coding RNAs was first discovered in the model organism C. elegans in 1993 and since then microRNAs have been identified in almost every species, including humans. They are highly conserved and research has shown that microRNAs function as important regulators of gene expression and play a role in multiple cellular processes.

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The data released was from a proof of concept trial evaluating the drug RG-101 that uses the company's GalNAc-conjugated anti-miR targeting platform against the Hepatitis C virus.  Further testing will need to be done to determine if the drug can achieve a higher efficacy but for now the data stands as being good in the eyes of investors.

The RG-101 acting alone as a monotherapy -- one type of treatment only needed -- achieved a 4.1 log reduction of the Hepatitis C virus. This 4.1 log reduction was achieved after 29 days of treatment and indicates a 100,000-fold drop of the HCV compared to the log reduction baseline. 

The 4.1 log reduction of HCV was achieved using only one dose of 2 mg/kg of RG-101 as a monotherapy. Regulus states that they would be able to combine their RG-101 compound with other types of oral therapies.

As always with biotechnology companies you want to determine how safe the drug compound is first. Notably, the RG-101 drug was safe and well tolerated with hardly any adverse events. 

Regulus may continue higher after data is released in the coming months. This is because 6 out of the 14 patients in the study achieved a full clearance of the HCV from their blood at day 29. The company has decided to follow the patients for the full 6 months time frame to determine if RG-101 continues to work for clearing the rest of the patients with just the single dose of RG-101. A new surprise in terms of efficacy might boost the Regulus share price even higher.