INFO: Advanced Trial Could Change Hepatitis C Treatment

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August 22, 2008

Advanced Trial Could Change Hepatitis C Treatment

Hundreds of non-responders to interferon-ribavirin combination therapy will be enrolled in a late stage clinical trial for Vertex's telaprevir.

Vertex to begin expanded trial for hepatitis drug

Tuesday, August 19, 2008Boston Business Journal - by Mark Hollmer

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. will begin a wide-scale late stage human clinical trial for its hepatitis C treatment.

The Cambridge, Mass. company (Nasdaq: VRTX) said on Tuesday that it had agreed with regulatory authorities in the U.S. and European Union to begin the trial for telaprevir in combination with another treatment. Scientists for this trial will focus on patients for whom a previous treatment hasn¢t worked.

More than 650 patients will be enrolled at over 100 facilities in the U.S. and the European Union, and enrollment should be complete by the fiscal 2009 first quarter.

Getting a hepatitis C treatment to market would be an enormous achievement. About 6 million patients in the U.S. and European Union alone suffer from hepatitis C, Vertex estimates.

URL for article source:http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/08/18/daily10.html

Posted by Editors at August 22, 2008 01:51 PM

http://www.hepatitis-central.com/mt/archives/2008/08/vertexs_advance.html