Replies to post #35739 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

> ITMN VRTX – Have a lot of thoughts on what this deal means for HCV drug development especially for Vertex (surprised others aren’t speculating)…<

Some people are speculating about this. ‘stymiefool’ posted on Yahoo that people “in the know” are telling him VX-950 won’t make it. (My own opinion is that Mr. Stymie overdid his celebration.)

> anyone know if there will be anywhere that we can get information on what the FDA decides for HCV clinical development in the meetings the next couple days?<

If you wanted to dedicate 12 hours and a few hundred bucks, you could listen to the panel hearings live via fdaadvisorycommittee.com. But I wouldn’t bother (even if money were no object) because the outcome of the hearings will be well publicized. Regards, Dew

p.s. I think it’s time for you to update the ITMN ReadMeFirst :-) I suggest copying the old text into your word processor and making edits there. Post your new text as a message in reply to your old one. I will then update the pointer in the iBox.

[gofishmarko]

>> Have a lot of thoughts on what this deal means for HCV drug development especially for Vertex (surprised others aren’t speculating) <<

Dew isn't a big fan of conspiracy theories , so that may be why nobody offered any speculations.

I don't think Roche and SGP will give up HCV market share without a fight , and I don't think they particularly care if it's a fair fight either.

Roche , especially , may be doubly-motivated to win the protease battle with VRTX. Boger said that the J&J offer wasn't the best deal from a strictly monetary viewpoint , and that other considerations came into play that resulted in the choice of J&J as a partner. I'd be willing to bet that Boger rejected a better offer from Roche , and that Roche would like nothing better than to make him regret it.

In a similar vein , the acquisition of Albuferon by NVS may have been at least partly driven by a desire to insulate the NVS HCV program from the nefarious practices of Roche and SGP.

BTW , the next time you offer to do a read-me-first on a new company , I'm gonna buy a bunch of it , so choose carefully !

;-)