Merck & Co's Victrelis and Vertex' telaprivir get unanimous backing from FDA advisory panel for chronic hep C

The Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee of the US Food and Drug Administration has voted unanimously that the available data support approval of US drugs giant Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) investigational drug Victrelis (boceprevir) for the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection in combination with current standard therapy. A day later, the same panel also voted by 18 to nil to support also USA-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ (Nasdaq: VRTX) similar class of drug telaprevir for the same indication.

Victrelis is one of a new class of medicines known as HCV protease inhibitors being evaluated by the FDA for the treatment of chronic HCV genotype 1 infection in adult patients with compensated liver disease who are previously untreated or who have failed previous therapy. Both Vertex's and Merck's drug candidates act by blocking the protease enzyme that enables the virus to replicate.

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