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Gilead scrambles toward hep C cure-all with next-gen combo pill

March 24, 2014 | By John Carroll
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Gilead ($GILD) won the race to be the first to market with an interferon-free oral therapy that can essentially wipe out all traces of the virus for a large group of patients. Now it's angling to follow up that big score with a single combo pill that can do the job for just about everyone in the megablockbuster market.

The biotech--under intense criticism for pricing Sovaldi at $84,000 in the U.S. for the 12-week treatment--posted an abstract for the upcoming meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver that outlined 100% cure rates among small groups of patients across 6 genotypes taking one of two doses of a Sovaldi combination treatment. The big add here is GS-5816, a next-gen NS5A inhibitor that added the essential ingredient for a new regimen that promises to eliminate any need for interferon as well as ribavirin.

Mark Schoenebaum, a high-profile analyst for ISI and a longtime booster of Gilead's blockbuster hepatitis C efforts, gives the biotech the inside track to one of the Holy Grails in biotech: one pill that can conquer the entire global market.



Read more: Gilead scrambles toward hep C cure-all with next-gen combo pill - FierceBiotech http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/gilead-scrambles-toward-hep-c-cure-all-next-gen-combo-pill/2014-03-24#ixzz2wtelI0Xr
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