Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX)

[gofishmarko]

Re : SCLN / SCV-07

It's deja vu all over again for SCLN shareholders , it seems.

HCV may well be the best indication to pursue , given the market size and need for a more tolerable and/or safer alternative to ifn , but it's hard to take this seriously coming from SCLN. Implicit Bioscience is going down the same road with a similar dipeptide ( Oglufanide ) and their founder is the co-inventor of Gardisil , so maybe there is something worthwhile going on with these compounds. Structurally they're not that far removed from drugs like thalidomide , imiquimod , CellCept -- i.e., known small-molecule immunomodulators -- and Oglufanide was originally isolated from a thymic extract , so I think the biologic activity is probably real , it's just a question of whether they can pick the right indication , dose and admin. methods , etc. , and then jump thru all the approval hoops.

Oglufanide is in a similar dose-ranging , monotherapy trial in HCV , but they're testing inhaled as well as s.q. administration. SCLN made a big deal over the oral availability of SCV-07 , so I'm surprised they're not trying the oral route as well in this trial.

A 1-log drop in viral load in a week seems like a reasonable goal to me , since ifn as monotherapy would not do much better in these patients , and the ultimate goal is undoubtedly combo therapy with riba and newer direct antivirals , in place of ifn.