Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

>VRTX – How do you see side effects altering those percentages, if at all?<

I expect that side effects will play less of a role than usual in this case, for two reasons:

1. Patients in PROVE-3 have been through a lengthy treatment of interferon and ribavirin in the first line, and hence they are already somewhat familiar with the nasty side effects that these drugs can cause.

2. With PROVE-1 and PROVE-2, VRTX has generated a large safety database for Telaprevir in the treatment-naïve setting that will give the FDA more comfort vis-à-vis the safety in the treatment-refractory setting. (Were it not for VRTX’s extensive work in the treatment-naïve setting, I would have said in #msg-26290780 that the chance of approval based on PROVE-3 was close to nil.)

Regards, Dew