Vertex says telaprevir created immune response in most patients with hepatitis C

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Vertex: drug aided immune response to hepatitis C

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday its hepatitis C treatment telaprevir created an immune system response to the virus in patients who had not been helped by other drugs.

The results came from a midstage trial of telaprevir. Vertex said a majority of patients who had had no response to other drugs, or had only a partial response or relapsed after treatment, were free from the virus being dosed with telaprevir in the study.

Vertex said virus levels were undetectable in 90 percent of the relapsed group and 55 percent of the partial responders after 24 or 48 weeks of treatment. Undetectable virus levels, also called a sustained virologic response, is the main goal of hepatitis C treatment. The company added that 57 percent of patients who had not responded at all to other drugs had a sustained response after 48 weeks.

Four nonresponders, five partial responders and one prior relapser experienced a new relapse during the study. Eight patients left the trial due to bad reactions to telaprevir.

Wednesday’s results came from an analysis of 94 patients. It did not include 23 other patients who were unresponsive to previous therapy. Some of them stopped telaprevir after four weeks because they were not responding to that drug either, Vertex said.

Full results from the study are expected in 2010. In afternoon trading, Vertex stock fell 22 cents to $33.10.