Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX)

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Vertex Hep C Drug Improves Cure Rates
By Adam Feuerstein 10/28/09 - 07:01 AM EDT


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (TheStreet) -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals(VRTX Quote) released additional clinical data Wednesday demonstrating the potential for its experimental hepatitis C drug telaprevir to significantly improve the cure rates in patients who failed prior treatment.
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Interim data from an ongoing phase II study showed that treatment with a telaprevir-based regimen resulted in rates of sustained viral responses (SVR), or hepatitis C cures, ranging from 55% to 90% across four different patient groups, all of whom failed to respond to prior therapy to varying degrees.

To put these results in perspective, last March, Vertex presented data from a different phase II study that treated patients who also failed prior therapies. In that study, 55% of patients re-treated with a telaprevir-containing regimen achieved an SVR, or cure, compared with 14% of patients who were re-treated with current standard of care.

The new data released Wednesday, therefore, appear to bolster Vertex's claim that telaprevir can improve the cure rate for even the most difficult-to-treat patients -- those who don't respond to standard hepatitis C therapy of long-acting interferon and ribavirin.