Vertex Drug Could Be Huge

BOSTON -- The on-and-off love affair between Wall Street and Vertex Pharmaceuticals(VRTX Quote) is on again.

Shares of the Cambridge, Mass.-based biopharmaceutical firm have jumped 35% since the end of June as investors grow more confident that telaprevir, Vertex's experimental hepatitis C drug, will be a game-changing blockbuster.

On Tuesday, Vertex Chief Medical Officer John Alam and CFO Ian Smith gave me an update on telaprevir. The body language of both men was very confident. Of course, Vertex executives have a reputation for being too cocky for their own good. This is especially true for CEO Joshua Boger -- and it's gotten him in some trouble with Wall Street in the past. ...