Moreover, 16% of the patients in the Boceprevir trial are African-Americans, who typically have a worse response to HCV treatment than other ethnic groups. Also, 7% of the patients already had cirrhosis of the liver on trial entry.
The above factors are IMO are more likely to account for the low SVR12 rate seen in the control arm of the Boceprevir trial than the fact that the trial is open-label, which is the explanation being touted on the VRTX board on Yahoo where the posters are accusing SGP of frosting the numbers. (What else is new?)