I agree, that sentence could open the door for PRO 140 to a wider group of patients and it fits nicely with the idea that the FDA would not give the drug ODD. So, perhaps PRO 140 will have a legit market for combo that would make up those patients that are resistant to two classes but not three. Also, there are likely a higher percentage of CCR5 patients in the two but not three category. Has the company ever tried to quantify that market size? I have not seen it anywhere and I have always found that to be strange.
I suspect a lot hangs on the word "intolerance". Cross resistance is pretty straightforward (and I am not sure how much of that there is) but what exactly does intolerance mean? Misiu suggested it means side-effects. If so, all the HAART drugs have side effects, so that could be pretty broad. If intolerance means taking the third drug makes you very sick, then the market may be smaller. But either way, this is clearly the opportunity for combo and it may be significant enough to make some serious money from.
What I don't get is if the company needs to raise money, why is it not putting that up in lights to help them do so? Why don't they talk about it as often as they can? That doesn't make any sense either. So, is there still apiece to this puzzle that is missing?
If the 2 but not 3 resistance market is where PRO 140 will get most of it sales, the competition we need to keep an eye on is Fostemsavir. Fortunately, ViiV has seemingly sidelined development of this drug and now has its phase III trial ending in early 2020. Fostemsavir has the BTD but something must have gone wrong with the test as they have really put the breaks on. So PRO 140 should have plenty of time to exploit the 2 but not 3 market before any competition arrives.
