Michael Kishbauch, ACHN's President & CEO, spoke for about 30 minutes today at this event and the linked webcast has both audio and video. This is the first time I've seen one of these webcasts with video (nice to finally be able to put a face to a speaker). Salient points of the webcast, IMO, are as follows:
1. ACH-1095 - Unfortunately, no significant additional color was added to help explain GILD's decision to drop ACH-1095, the NS4A antagonist for HCV. Mr. Kishbauch referred to the event as a "divide and conquer" moment in that GILD dropped the compound and ACHN will now move forward with it on its own and will meet with the FDA soon to discuss a Phase 1 clinical trial. ACHN expects to be in the clinic with the compound before the end of this year. Among other things, Mr. Kishbauch indicated that GILD's decision reflected strategic priorities that are best discussed by GILD. He also referenced the complexity behind the chemical structure of ACH-1095, and the complexity of the pre-clinical data. Work continues on the follow-on NS4A antagonists as part of the collaboration between GILD and ACHN.
2. ACH-1625 - This HCV PI is only "days to weeks" away from entering Phase I PoC and ACHN expects to have such data by the end of this year. Mr. Kishbauch also noted that ACHN is both in "advanced" and "advancing" (obviously there's a big distinction here so I'll assume such discussions are just "advancing" to be conservative) discussions with three major players regarding a licensing deal for ACH-1625. Inasmuch as Mr. Kishbauch has previously stated that a partnership likely wouldn't be formed before PoC for ACH-1625, I wouldn't expect anything until at least around year-end. He also indicated that the backup PI compounds behind ACH-1625 are advancing and are a part of the licensing discussions (follow-on compounds behind ACH-1625 had not been discussed before to my knowledge).
3. Other HCV compounds - Mr. Kishbauch also disclosed that there is a new class of HCV inhibitors that ACHN is working on that will be disclosed soon. He would not comment on what type of HCV class these compounds fall under (e.g. PI, nuke, non-nuke, etc.). I originally thought he was just speaking of the follow-on PIs to ACH-1625 but that is not the case.
4. ACH-702 - This compound targets bacterial infections. Mr. Kishbauch indicated that ACHN is ready to file the IND but is waiting on a partner. He also noted that there are 3 major players in the opthamologic sector and that ACHN is in quite advanced discussions with 2 to license the compound. ACHN expects a partnership for 702 by year-end.
5. Elvucitabine - This is the HIV nuke, which Dew has previously pointed out the flaws behind. I wouldn't expect much out of this one, but Mr. Kishbauch noted that ACHN is in discussions for 3 regional partnerships (one of which has advanced to a term-sheet) for the compound covering Asia, South Africa, and South America. ACHN expects a partnership for elvucitabine by year-end.
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
