Speaking of competitive concerns, I've gone back and looked carefully at the Schering boceprevir pr. (There is nothing about boceprevir at AASLD.) I think a couple of observations are in order.
1. You have to assume that Schering is intelligent and competent and thus they know the current state of HCV research, the importance of RVR and the reports that Vertex has made, which clearly was and still is the front-runner.
2. RVR (rapid viral response) is an enormously important predictor of success, but Schering declined to report RVR. One can only conclude that they didn't compare well on a RVR basis. (Schering released the boceprevir data on a Thursday, with their quarterly cc upcoming on Monday at which they released poor results, tanking their share price. You have to believe they would have packed the boceprevir pr with as much good data as possible.)
3. Schering and Vertex discontinuations due to AEs are very similar, with Vertex figures between 10 and 13%, and Schering between 9 and 12%. Though Vertex figures are for ETR and Schering at only 16 weeks into treatment. (This ignores a Schering low riba arm which wasn't beating SOC. Also, Vertex also gave figures for discontinuations due to lost to follow up and withdrew consent, while Schering didn't.)
4. The Schering EVR numbers are not for week 12 as is common, but rather after 4 weeks soc and 12 weeks triple therapy, or 16 weeks. So, are the Schering EVR numbers inflated in comparison to Vertex?
Certainly, there has been a lot of press buzz about competition, but the only one that is anywhere near close is boceprevir, and it seems to have a lot of questions.
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