Biotech Values

[mcbio]

ACHN @ Noble (5/16/11)

I may be taking this out of context but I thought slide 20 from this presentation (slide 18 on the actual slides), along with the discussion (12 minute mark) from Joe Truitt, chief commercial officer, was interesting. The context of this part of the presentation was the next steps for ACH-1625 in the clinic. After initial discussion about a "slight pause" before continuing the Phase 2b portion of the 1625 trial, there is discussion about testing 1625 in combo with ACH-2928, ACHN's pre-clinical NS5A inhibitor, in the future. Next, there is reference to "optimizing formulations to get those prepared for future studies." What's not clear to me is whether or not Mr. Truitt was referring to optimizing the formulation for 1625, which is already well into the clinic (which would be a concern for me), or if he was just referring to 2928, which is still in the pre-clinical stage and which would be less of a concern for me. Does the "slight pause" refer to having to tweak the formulation for 1625 in order for it be combinable with other HCV drugs such as 2928? Again, I'm probably over-analyzing this but thought I would note this in case Dew or anyone else from the board wants to listen and weigh in. Comments welcome.