Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

VRTX reports 7-day monotherapy data on ALS-2220, one of the two HCV nukes licensed from Alios BioPharma in 2011 (#msg-64166913):

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/vertex-announces-positive-results-viral-200000844.html

There was a median 4.54 log10 reduction in hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in people with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C who were new to treatment (n=8) after seven days of dosing with 200 mg of ALS-2200 once daily. ALS-2200 was well-tolerated in this study, and no patients discontinued due to adverse events. Based on these data, Vertex plans to begin Phase 2 studies this year of 12-week all-oral regimens including ALS-2200 in people with genotype 1 hepatitis C, pending discussions with regulatory agencies…

Four of eight patients in this dose group achieved HCV RNA levels below the limit of quantification. Based on these data, Vertex expects to conduct a study to evaluate ALS-2200 in combination with INCIVEK (telaprevir), the company’s approved protease inhibitor for people with genotype 1 hepatitis C, and a study of ALS-2200 in combination with ribavirin.