HGS Reports Early Positive Results for Hepatitis C Drug
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Human Genome Sciences, a Washington area biotech company that in 16 years has yet to bring a commercial treatment to market, said yesterday that results were positive for the first of two late-stage clinical trials of its hepatitis C drug.
The Rockville company is developing the drug, Albuferon, with Swiss drugmaker Novartis. The results showed that Albuferon was as effective for hepatitis C as the current treatment on the market, a Roche drug called Pegasys, but in half as many doses. The test focused on patients who had two types of hepatitis C, both of which take 24 weeks to treat.
Results of Albuferon's final trial, conducted on patients with a type of hepatitis C that takes 48 weeks to treat, are expected in March. If those results are successful, the company hopes to file global marketing applications in the fall.
"We have a successful first trial," Jerry Parrott, a spokesman for the company, said. "We are looking to the next study, which we will have in March, and then we will have a full picture, a full understanding of the therapeutic and commercial potential of this drug."
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infectious disease that can cause serious liver diseases. The results announced yesterday showed that 79.8 percent of patients receiving Albuferon showed no signs of the hepatitis C virus in their bloodstream 24 weeks after the last injection, compared with 84.8 percent of a group that received Pegasys. The trials were conducted on 933 patients in different parts of the world and most of the discrepancy between the two drugs occurred in Asia, Human Genome Sciences said. In Asia, the drug was effective in 79.8 percent of patients compared with 95.5 percent who took Pegasys.
"What really remains to be seen is what this number means," Parrott said. "That Asian result completely accounts for that 5 percent difference."
Shares closed up 14 cents yesterday, or 8.14 percent, at $1.86.
"This is a beaten-down stock," Han Li, an analyst with the Stanford Group, said. "We should not expect a big pop up here, as to do that we need fresh money in there and at this point there are few investors willing to take the risk."
