>>> VRTX up ~$800 million in market cap while IDIX up ~$5 million <<<
I wouldn't say the 800/5 ratio accurately reflects the difference in 'goodness' between the IDIX and VRTX HCV results , but the VRTX results are much more meaningful , IMO.
The big thing they show is that the off-treatment results are as expected , i.e. the old models of RVR and EVR vs. attainment of SVR still hold up pretty well , as evidenced by the 5 out of 6 patients who were HCV undetectable after 3 mo. off-treatment. The 3-month off-treatment numbers will probably be very close to the final 6-mo. results ( true SVR ).
I have to think that with all the variations being tried in the P2 trials , and using a full 3 months of treatment with VX-950 , that SVRs in the P3 will be in the 80% range or better , which will be huge. No safety or SE surprises yet either , and the number of patients treated grows daily. VX-950 is looking like a lock for the next SOC treatment ( for naives , at least ).
This is some more new positive data :
>>- Raj Kalkeri, Ph.D., of Vertex will present in vitro data on Monday,
October 30. In Dr. Kalkeri's study, HCV protease variants with
decreased sensitivity to telaprevir were less efficient in cleaving
proteins involved in innate immunity.<<
This is the advantage of targeting the protease as opposed to the polymerase. The protease inhibits immune signalling in addition to being involved in viral replication. The odds that a VX950-resistant mutant will recover both of those characteristics is low , so you always get some benefit.
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