Replies to post #868 on Idenix Pharmaceuticals (IDIX)

[Preciouslife1]

Morning Dew and MSKSO,

Dew, your retort was very apropos and accurate imho.
People are desperately looking for VX~950 to be the
"CURE" end all SOC for HCV and it just isn't going to
happen.
I personally do not see a Protease nor Polymerase Inhibitor
being the answer due to its MOA and the viral rebound factor.
Dr Boger can do his Dion Sanders hype act all he chooses, and
even the KING Dr McHutchison can spin the accolades of VX-950, but the fact remains, that as of right now a combo will
have be infused, and any combo with Ribavirin or Interferon, peg-inf will have bad side effects,(ie: THE RASH), cause trepidation in the HCV patient community and not be a quantum leap forward that
the biotech analysts and company execs are looking for, hoping for...mega billions are at stake here, and when that
happens, massive games get played, spindoctoring gets applied and the patients lose out as the peripheral damage of the
hype leaves them with a non cure, or highly efficacious/low side effect treatment.
All in my humble opionion from watching, studying, investing, analyzing, dissecting of most issues biotech since Genentech became a company and the 1980's were in the future.

+++I think McHutchison’s comments are good spin, but spin nonetheless.

Let me turn this issue around and ask what would happen if VX-950 were not able to shorten the SoC in HCV to 24 weeks?

Answer: it would be one of the biggest flameouts in biotech history.

Until now, the issue has been whether VX-950-based cocktails would be able to shorten SoC to twelve weeks. By touting a 24-week regimen in the VRTX PR, McHutchison is implicitly saying that the 12-week idea is dead.

Some like Jazz are calling IDIX's HCV drug in trials DOA, and
the other Protease Inhibitors as passe and only adjuvants.
This will be a soap opera for a long time to come with wild swings in the PPS of many of the HCV players like IDIX, VRTX, PPHM, HGSI, Roche etc.....but hey, the adrenalin rush is what some biotech investors enjoy the most....let the best, most
efficacious drug win, and also in a combo treatment setting for the HCV sufferers worldwide imho.

Peace B2U,