Thip schreef:

Login screen?

Thip schreef:

The truth about magic bullets and there demystification. What you can
expect for the next years.

http://www.mssmtv.org/player_alf/player.php?id=alf_2007_01

Here's the gist of it:

Vertex's Telaprevir Passes Test in Tough-To-Treat Hepatitis C Patients
Luke Timmerman 4/25/09

Vertex's telaprevir is starting to stand the test of time. The experimental
drug for hepatitis C is showing today that it can cure about half of the
patients who failed to respond to standard treatments. That's about triple
the cure rate for patients who tried a second round of the existing drugs.

The latest findings were reported today from a study called Prove 3, at the
European Association for the Study of the Liver meeting in Copenhagen,
Denmark. The study found that 51 percent of patients who took telaprevir in
combination with standard drugs for six months were cured and 52 percent
were cured by staying on the drug for almost a full year, researchers said.
That compares with 14 percent, who were cured with a second round of the
standard treatment-pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin for almost a
year.

And:

http://hcvsupport.org/forum/index.php?topic=3837.0

"SAN DIEGO, June 19 (Reuters) - Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX.O:
Quote,Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will be prepared to launch its
experimental hepatitis C drug next year even though U.S. regulators have not
said whether they would review it based on a mid-stage trial, the company's
chief executive said.

"That's Plan B," CEO Joshua Boger said late on Wednesday at an event at the
BIO International Convention in San Diego.

He said Plan A continues to be completion of a pivotal trial of the drug,
telaprevir, in hepatitis C patients not previously treated, with data
expected in the first half of 2010. If positive, Vertex would then file for
regulatory approval in the second half of 2010.

But the company "has to be ready," despite the expense, to launch in the
third quarter of next year should the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
agree to a faster timeline, Boger said.

Vertex last week reported positive interim results from a Phase 2b study of
the drug in hard-to-treat patients who failed to respond to prior treatment,
leading many observers to expect accelerated approval of the drug.

The interim results found 52 percent of the patients who received telaprevir
as well as the standard interferon/ribavirin combination had undetectable
levels of the hepatitis C virus after 36 weeks, compared with 30 percent of
patients treated only with the standard therapy.

Boger said Vertex expects to take the final data from the trial to the FDA
late this year or early next year.

Should the agency agree to review it, he said the application would be only
for patients who have stopped responding to other therapies.

Boger said preparing Vertex to scale up for a launch next year is expensive,
but needs to be done because having telaprevir on the market as soon as
possible will save lives.

Hepatitis C is a viral infection of the liver. An estimated 170 million
people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus,
according to the World Health Organization.

Vertex is developing telaprevir in partnership with Johnson & Johnson
(JNJ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). (Reporting by Deena Beasley;
Editing by Braden Reddall) "