Vertex Hepatitis C Drug Shows 75 Percent Cure Rate

Hepatitis C is one of the hottest areas for drug development and Vertex Pharmaceuticals has released a study that gives new hope to patients and investors. The results show its Telaprevir treatment increased the cure rate to 75 percent in a pivotal tiral of previously untreated patients, while also reducing the time needed for treatment. By contrast, the cure rate for patients who received only existing therapies was just 44 percent. Of those who got 12 weeks of telaprevir, 75 percent had a sustained viral response, meaning the virus was not detectable in their blood 24 weeks after completing treatment. That is seen as essentially a cure. The rate was 69 percent for those who got eight weeks of telaprevir...........&more