ह्स्व Antivirals

There are about 30 HCV antivirals in phase 1, 2 and 3 that will be presented at the EASL meeting in April 2009 in Copenhagen. These drugs are moving along through the pipeline and include about 10 protease inhibitors, which are the most potent, and 15 polymerase inhibitors, and several other types of interesting drug candidates. All of these drugs have shown antiviral potency. In about 1.5 years the first oral HCV drug, telaprevir a potent protease inhibitor, will wrap up phase 3 and should be ready for the pharmacy. Followed right behind are al these other drugs. We are headed to a regimen with 1 initially but after that 2 and 3 oral agents, initially in combination with peg and ribavirin. Whether or not peg/RBV will be able to not be used remains a research question for the future but for now we can look to a regimen of 2 oral drugs + peg/rbv translating into I expect 85% SVR rates for all patients even African-Americans and Latinos. Jules Levin