Avid Bioservices Inc (CDMO)

[RRdog]

Geo,
I'm sorry but I still dont see anything in all that data that would lead me to believe they need bavi.

The following is from your abstsract:

"All five treatment arms of the interferon-free oral combination therapy of BI 201335/BI 207127/RBV showed high virologic response rates through week 12, defined by measuring the level of HCV RNA in patient blood:
•70–76% of patients who received BI 201335 once daily (QD) + BI 207127 three times daily (TID) or twice daily (BID) with RBV achieved undetectable HCV RNA at week 12, with 13–21% of patients developing a viral load breakthrough during treatment
•57% of patients who received BI 201335 QD + BI 207127 TID without RBV achieved viral response at week 12
•SVR12, which is considered highly predictive of SVR and cure of the infection, was achieved after 16 weeks of treatment in 59% of patients.

The safety and tolerability profile was comparable to other direct acting antiviral regimens."

I suppose if Bavi could move the numbers north of 70-76% toward 96% that would be viable and if somebody could make a serious claim that bavi had some real viable effect on the percentage of future recurrence of the disease in patients that initially showed no virologic response that might be interesting. I just don't see it yet and believe me I'm looking for it.

The best fit I can see is Roche for the ANDS drug they acquired with high efficacy that was not oral and was combo with INF and RBV. I still say that drug is a "lock" looking for a "bavi key" re additional immuno stimulus for more efficacy and for SVR and a non- recurrence "up rating" while lowering all the inf side effects.

Also, IMO, since Roche was already a partner at VRUS, when they bought ANDS it was a market "tell" in hindsight that VRUS was going to get a knockout bid from some BP (it turned out to be GILD) that Roche would not match. IMO I would watch Roche very closely in this viral area because they want to compete and they know all the weaknesses in the VRUS approach which is clearly the leader by market value.

Best Regards,
RRdog