Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX)

[surf1944]

Vertex drops as rival's hepatitis drug advances
Wednesday May 21, 3:41 pm ET
Vertex falls and Schering-Plough rises as Schering moves hepatitis C drug into late testing

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell Wednesday after Schering-Plough Corp. said it is starting late-stage clinical testing of boceprevir, a hepatitis C drug candidate and a rival to Vertex's drug telaprevir.

Schering-Plough said it is starting two late-stage studies of boceprevir. One will test the drug's effectiveness in previously untreated patients, and the other will test the drug on patients who have not responded to other treatments or relapsed.

The first study will include more than 1,000 patients, while the second will include about 375 non-responsive or relapsed patients. Both studies will combine boceprevir after four weeks of treatment with two of Schering-Plough's older drugs, Peg-Intron and Rebetol.

In the larger trial, patients will be treated for either 28 weeks or 48 weeks to measure their rapid or sustained response to the drugs. In the second trial, patients will be treated for 36 or 48 weeks. In both trials, the combination of boceprevir, Peg-Intron and Rebetol will be compared to Peg-Intron and Rebetol alone.

Telaprevir is already in late-stage testing, but analysts said the boceprevir trials are starting sooner than they expected. Vertex stock lost $1.73, or 6.3 percent, to $25.75 in afternoon trading. Schering-Plough shares rose 18 cents to $19.44.

Oppenheimer analyst Brian Abrahams said the "race" between telaprevir and boceprevir is closer than he thought, but he believes telaprevir is likely to be more effective in both relapsed and untreated patients, and telaprevir's dosing also may be more favorable.