Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Re: IDIX conference call

[Dew]: The most intriguing revelation from today’s CC, IMO, was that ribavirin can compete with a nucleoside analog during the first phosphorylation step, and hence eliminating this step in vivo can allow the nuke to perform better when given with ribavirin.

[mcbio]: What about the disclosure about the research program targeting NS5A? I have never heard IDIX disclose this program before so I assume this is a brand new revelation.

Yes, the NS5A program was a new revelation, but this ranks below the three pre-existing HCV programs in excitement level, IMO.

It doesn't seem accurate to compare efficacy across the HCV drug classes, and just by looking within the nuke class, it appears that so far IDX-184 is one of the most efficacious nukes. So, again, this appears to be good news IMHO.

Agreed. For instance, nukes depress viral load much more slowly than PI’s. However, what nukes give up in speed they make up for by having a high barrier to resistance and broad efficacy across the various HCV genotypes.

[Compared to R7128 from VRUS,] IDX-184 has the advantage of much more potency and thus being more amenable to co-formulation down the road.

True, although co-formulation of oral agents into a single pill is much less consequential from a business standpoint in HCV (where treatment lasts for a fixed duration) than it is in HIV (where treatment continues for the life of the patient).

Dew, are you planning to add to your IDIX position given the price drop and the fact that we now have PoC?

You make it sound as though IDIX’s share price was recently down when in fact it is up 44% in the past three days! Having added most recently in the low 3’s a few months ago (#msg-36659703), I have no immediate plans to add again now. Regards, Dew