Replies to post #116164 on Biotech Values

[ThomasS]

VRUS: "if investors do ultimately see that this two-drug combo won't be enough (i.e., if there is viral breakthrough in longer-term studies)."
This 14-day study, obviously, wasn't meant to be "enough." BUT, what if any of the 15 of 16 non-detectables at day 14 do not experience a viral rebound? There weren't any SAE's. VRUS could already be close to a finish line.
This one bears close watching, imo.

[oc631]

I agree with you vis-a-vis the likely necessity of three oral drugs. This is still very early data that VRUS has run up on and I would imagine the stock might be prone to a nice pullback if investors do ultimately see that this two-drug combo won't be enough (i.e., if there is viral breakthrough in longer-term studies).

I'm not sure which benchmark you and Dew are using to suggest a need for a third drug. If you are using Altripla as a template you may be comparing apples to oranges. If it's a matter of 938/7977 proving to be non-inferior to telaprevir+SOC in efficacy, resistance, and tolerability that shouldn't be a problem IMO. Safety is my only concern which was partially diminished with the release of this weeks abstract. Adding a third drug will not boost the safety profile of this combo. I agree the 14-day data is preliminary yet suggests a monumental change in the HCV field.



In the spirit of Dew..... I will eat my hat if viral breakthrough is seen in the long term studies of this dual-nuke combo.