Sunday, May 28, 2006
Drug Cuts HCV Up To 97 Percent
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viropharma Inc on Sunday said its experimental drug, being developed with Wyeth Inc., cut levels of the hepatitis C virus by up to 97 percent in a small 14-day clinical trial.
The drug was given for 14 days by itself to patients infected with the virus who had not been previously treated with other medicines. The drug is designed to block an enzyme called polymerase that the virus, which can cause fatal liver damage, needs to replicate itself.
Patients in the Phase I trial twice daily received 50 milligram, 100 milligram, 250 milligram, 500 milligram, 1000 milligram, or 1500 milligram oral doses of the medicine, called HCV-796, or received placebos.
"Peak antiviral response was achieved at doses of 500 twice daily and higher," Viropharma said in a release, and the medicine was well tolerated. Mean virus levels were cut by 1.4 log to 1.5 log -- or 96 to 97 percent -- in patient groups receiving the three highest doses of the drug.
The amount of viral reduction, however, is less than the greater than 99 percent reduction that has been shown in previous clinical trials of another experimental drug being developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc..
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060521/sc_nm/viropharma_wyeth_dc
# posted by Joyfulstill @ 12:20 AM 
