Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX)

[surf1944]

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Announces Acceptance of Late-Breaker Abstract on Telaprevir, Investigational HCV Protease Inhibitor, for Presentation at EASL Annual Meeting
Monday March 31, 8:31 am ET

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX - News) today announced that data related to its investigational hepatitis C protease inhibitor telaprevir will be featured in a late-breaker poster presentation during the 43rd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Milan, April 23-27, 2008.

The title of the abstract is "A Study of Telaprevir (TVR) with Peginterferon alfa-2A (P) and Ribavirin (R) in Subjects with Well-documented Prior P/R Null Response, Non-Response or Relapse: Preliminary Results" and will be presented at EASL starting on Thursday, April 24. Accepted late-breaker abstracts for the EASL meeting are now available on the EASL website. Information contained in the late-breaker poster abstract has also been filed by Vertex with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on a Form 8-K.

In addition to the late-breaker abstract, three additional abstracts on telaprevir have been accepted for presentation during EASL:

Oral Presentations:

PROVE 1: Results From a Phase 2 Study of Telaprevir with Peginterferon alfa-2a and Ribavirin in Treatment-Naïve Subjects with Hepatitis C; Thursday; April 24 at 3:45 p.m. CET (9:45 a.m EDT).

Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C with Telaprevir (TVR) in Combination with Peginterferon-alfa-2a with or without Ribavirin: Further Interim Analysis Results of the PROVE2 Study; Friday, April 25 at 11:45 a.m. CET (6:45 a.m EDT).

Poster Presentation:

Natural Prevalence Of HCV Variants with Decreased Susceptibility to NS3•4a Protease Inhibitors in Treatment-Naïve Subjects; starting Thursday, April 24 at 7:00 p.m. CET (1:00 p.m EDT).

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