Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX)

[gofishmarko]

>> The higher resistance figures in the references you cited are ITT figures, which are irrelevant for the reason mentioned in #msg-14403420: in patients where Tyzeka never works in the first place, it’s immaterial whether it induces strains that are resistant to Tyzeka because these patients will be switched to another therapy. There is no preclinical or clinical evidence I’m aware of that a short regimen of Tyzeka induces resistance to Baraclude or Hepsera. <<

You're way off base here , Dew. Cross-resistance is THE ISSUE that argues against using second-tier drugs first. It's like using a sub-therapeutic dose of an antibiotic against a bacterial infection -- it's worse than no treatment at all because it compromises subsequent therapy.

Tyzeka resistance mutations confer substantial cross-resistance to lam and entecavir. See , for example :

http://www.natap.org/2007/DDW/DDW_16.htm


>>> Perhaps the AASLD guidelines tend to lag behind the state of the art and this is why Baraclude took so long to ramp up despite being clearly the best approved HBV drug during 2005 and 2006. <<<

I agree that lag could be a factor , but I still think that IDIX will take a longer time ramping up than Barraclude because it is not clearly superior to Barraclude , while Barraclude was clearly superior to lamivudine. It will take data from studies out to > 2 yrs. in head-to-head comparisons to change clinical practice appreciably , IMO.

That said , I find it hard to argue for selling IDIX at this price. Of course , I've said that before , wrongly , as it turned out. I'll be compelled to buy more if the price remains depressed later in the year , as the standstill deadline approaches , but I'm laying back for now , as much due to overall market concerns as anything specific to IDIX.