Replies to post #26219 on Biotech Values

[Praveen]

IDIX/Katie,

Is n't it a catch 22 for novartis? If they go ahead and license it, they have to pay the money for 200mg dose which might not have the same efficacy.If not the IDIX stock will sink and novartis will lose a big chunk of their investment.

I am glad that you didn't get into the stock. I have seen your IDIX's posts but I was never able to be bullish on the stock nor its prospects after reading about its early efficacy data and GI side effects. I don't like vertex's pumping either. You can see the latest 702 data and the hair cut it has got. But I like Vertex for their best in class HCV data it has got. Apart from the toxicity concerns, vx950 might also have resistance concern in the future,coz of a single mutation or a change in the amino acid of the virus.

Regards,
Praveen

[DewDiligence]

IDIX catches a break to help offset
last week’s mishap with NM283:

http://yahoo.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060327...

>>
Novartis Files Telbivudine in China for Hep B

Mon Mar 27, 2006 12:58 AM ET

ZURICH, March 27 (Reuters) - Novartis < NVS > said it had filed its telbivudine drug for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis B for approval in China after data showed it was superior to the commonly used treatment lamivudine in Chinese patients.

A Phase III trial in China, a country estimated to have more than 120 million people infected with hepatitis B, showed that telbivudine provided a rapid and profound viral suppression, the Swiss drugmaker said on Monday in a statement.

The drug, previously known as LDT600, has already been filed in the United States and in the European Union.

Chronic hepatitis B, the world's most common serious liver infection, is a potentially fatal disease which is thought to affect over 350 million people worldwide.

Novartis is working with Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. < IDIX > on hepatitis B product candidates, including Telbivudine and Valtorcitabine, and has an exclusive option to license in Idenix's Valopicitabine or NM283, a hepatitis C treatment.

The chief executive of Idenix last month projected the global market for hepatitis B drugs would double to $2 billion by 2009, helped by the expected arrival of telbivudine and the expanded use and promotion of other new drugs.
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