While this Anadys candidate is clearly well-behind the other entrants, especially compared to Vertex's Teleprevir candidate (for a next generation Hepatitis C treatment) -- it will bear watching, as it is showing very-strong 72 hour early efficiacy (albeit it in small patient groups) -- per today's Xconomy | San Diego:
. . . .An early peek at data from Anadys Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ANDS) suggests the company may have a promising new drug in the works for hepatitis C. The San Diego-based biotech is announcing results today from the first eight patients with the chronic liver infection, which shows its drug has more viral killing pop in the first three days of treatment than was seen in other drugs studied in its class, with minimal side effects.
The company found that its experimental medicine was able to wipe out 99 percent of the virus from the blood (known as a 2.5 logarithmic reduction) within 72 hours at the lowest dose tested in a Phase I clinical trial, says CEO Steve Worland. This finding was in the first group of patients who took a 200 milligram, twice-daily dose of ANA598. It is just the first slice of data available, and the trial is continuing to enroll patients at two higher doses, Worland says. The company hopes to present full data at the European Association for the Study of the Liver meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in April. . . .
Any way one slices it, Schering's path to a "winner" in next-gen Hep C treatments (with its boceprivir candidate) is increasingly cluttered with significant -- and expanding -- obstructions. . . .
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