Replies to post #35498 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

> VPHM IDIX Roche – looks like head-to-head battle here with R1626...<

Why do you say that? By any objective measure, IDIX’s NM283 is ahead of both VPHM’s HCV-796 and Roche’s R1626.

>IDIX still hampered by dose limiting toxicity<

Only in the treatment-refractory setting; in the treatment-naïve-setting, the 200mg dose of NM283 has an acceptable tolerability profile and has been selected as the dose to be used in phase-3.

Neither VPHM nor Roche has even begun trials in the treatment-refractory setting, so you don’t yet know whether their drugs will encounter dose-limiting toxicity when they do. Regards, Dew

[DewDiligence]

GILD has a non-nucleoside HCV polymerase inhibitor called GS9190. The IND has been filed and phase-1 is expected to start before year-end. This is the first I’ve heard of this program. (I think GILD had kept it under wraps until today.)

The most direct competitor of GILD’s new compound is HCV-796 from VPHM and WYE.

[DewDiligence]

Roche’s R1626 HCV polymerase inhibitor has shown unacceptable neutropenia in the existing phase-2 trial (#msg-13986782). As a result, R1626 will have to be tested in a second phase-2 trial using a lower dose.

Source: Roche’s 1Q07 CC