Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Re: VRUS/VRTX post on Yahoo

The easier to cure GT2/3 Hep C patients should have nearly a 100% cure rate with PSI-7977/ribavirin. For the GT 1 patients, if the cure rate were to match the Victrelis regimen at 66% (a great achievement but still far behind the 79% cure rate of the Incivek regimen), the numbers could then be combined with the 100% cure rate for GT2/3 Hep C patients and yield an overall cure rate of 75% across genotypes 1, 2 and 3. The marketing message will go like this: Pharmassett has the first all-oral Hep C regimen with a 75% cure rate across all genotypes commonly seen in the U.S. Of course, there will be a footnote in fine print stating that with respect to GT1 Hep C patients, PSI-7977/ribavirin is only indicated in those that cannot tolerate interferon. But, of course, no one wants to take interferon if they do not have to, so Pharmasset's message will be that everyone should be treated with PSI-7977/ribavirin."

I replied to your Yahoo post on Yahoo. Here’s what I said:

A footnote in the fine print? What fine print are you referring to?

The above is the kind of delusional rant one often sees on Yahoo and on this Yahoo board in particular. A few years ago, people here were posting that SGP was lying to investors about the phase-2 Victrelis data. Now, VRUS has supplanted MRK/SGP as the perceived archenemy, but the mindset remains the same, evidently.

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