In Merck's press release today:
Select Business Highlights
•Merck is currently launching more than 10 medicines in key markets around the world.
•The company continues to make progress in its pipeline, including:
- Boceprevir, an investigational oral hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, was granted Priority Review status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and accelerated assessment status by the European Union.
- The FDA accepted a new drug application for an investigational extended-release formulation of JANUMET (sitagliptin/metformin HCI).
- In the Phase III DEFINE study with Merck's investigational CETP inhibitor, anacetrapib, patients with coronary heart disease or CHD risk equivalents showed no significant differences from placebo in the primary safety measures studied. In addition, at 24 weeks, anacetrapib decreased LDL-C (bad cholesterol) by 40 percent and increased HDL-C (good cholesterol) by 138 percent in patients already treated with a statin and at guideline-recommended LDL-C goal.
- Top-line results for Phase III SUCCEED trial of ridaforolimus showed it met the primary endpoint in patients with metastatic soft-tissue or bone sarcomas
