Replies to post #50881 on Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Re: HCV arena

#msg-13214528 presents a somewhat outdated overview of the HCV arena from nature.com. Since this article was written, the two main non-interferon immunomodulators (from COLY and ANDS) have been dropped, and the three main polymerase inhibitors (NM283 from NVS/IDIX, R1626 from Roche, and HCV-796 from WYE/VPHM) have run into trouble.

I guess it’s fair to say that HCV is a challenging indication for new molecular entities. Regards, Dew

[DewDiligence]

VPHM HCV-796 post-mortem:

I finally got around to hearing the HCV-796 CC and found it to be densely laden with spin. Sell-side analysts rarely challenge a company’s assertions publicly but two of them (Jason Colbert of Susquehanna and Thomas Wei of PJ) essentially told company executives to cut the BS that HCV-796 still has a future.

[DewDiligence]

VPHM’s HCV-796 is now officially dead:

http://www.thestreet.com/print/story/10412339.html

Of course, serious biotech investors already knew this compound was not coming back. Elevated liver enzymes in a drug to treat a serious liver disease is not a benign side effect, regardless of how hard a company tries to convince investors to the contrary.