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ghmm

01/11/07 7:32 PM

#247 RE: DewDiligence #246

He also mentioned polymerase inhibitors in short "the street" interview at the JP Morgan conference. If you didn't catch it here is the link

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/video/executiveinterviews/10331778.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=...

It was interesting how he referred to "other" protease inhibitors (besides SGP). I think the comments of exploring BID dosing speaks more then his comments of other PI's.
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dewophile

01/11/07 7:49 PM

#248 RE: DewDiligence #246

haha - i meant boger not berger..must have been a subliminal slip with "burger" seeing as how I have not had dinner yet;)

speaking of boger..overall i found the vertex presentation interesting and skillfully orchestrated to play off of the monumental potential of vx-950 as a foudnation for a big pharma/bio-like future..one item i was curious to see ws how he handled the rash issue. This was downplayed as likely due to riba but boger did mention ( ever-so-quickly ) the potentially added importance of the non-riba containing arm of prove 2 in light of this side effect..now i don't think anyone (including myself) thinks the rash is a deal-breaker in any way, as the risk-benefit definitely seems to be in favor of vx-950, but it shoudl be noted the rash is not a few spots with itching that can be brushed under the rug but rather a very angry, aggressive, disfiguring disorder that has been characterized by some as not riba-like at all (not to mention accounting for a severalfold higher dropout rate compared to soc)..we'll see from prove 2 if it really is due to a boosting of the pharmacodynamic effect of riba like boger insinuates or a unique vx-950 entity..i'm also curious to know the timing of the rash..if it is predominantly in the last few weeks of dosing then perhaps ph III might include a shorter-course vx arm that might still yeild favorable (though likely inferior to 12 week dosing) outcome..if the onset is more immediate this bodes less favorably and may even dissuade a patient with less advanced disease from choosing to treat..the effect of all of this on nm-283 is less clear, although in general the more room there is for improvement in efficacy, diminishing tx-related side effects, and/or decreasing treatment duration, the more of a role there may be for complementary direct antivirals..it's going to be interesting to see how all this ultimately plays out..