Vertex Jumps On Data For Twice-daily Telaprevir

MARLEY SEAMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said a study shows its hepatitis C drug telaprevir can be dosed twice per day instead of three times, and Vertex shares shot to their highest price in two years.

Results from the small midstage clinical trial showed Vertex's pill, telaprevir, was about as effective at eliminating the hepatitis C virus if it was given twice a day as it was when given three times a day. In most of Vertex's studies, the drug has been dosed three times a day, and more convenient dosing could help sales if telaprevir is approved.

In afternoon trading, shares of the Cambridge, Mass., company climbed $2.95, or 8.8 percent, to $36.51. Earlier they rose to $38.68, which was the stock's highest price since October 2007.

In the study, 161 patients were given telaprevir every eight or 12 hours. They also took standard hepatitis C treatments: infusions of an interferon drug, which is given once a week, and a twice-per-day antiviral pill called ribavirin. Vertex said more than 80 percent of patients in each group experienced a sustained viral response, meaning their levels of the hepatitis C virus were so low they became undetectable. That response, called an SVR, is the goal of hepatitis C treatment.