Up whilst it is still quite dark -- thinking a bit over coffee and a banana; working on my anti-45 pro bono federal cases, and now blogging a bit, in the old power alley -- largely just to feel. . . normal for a spell.
I'll be only on-grid sporatically, for the rest of this week. And I may be out of the country for the back half of October -- getting to some recently delayed travels. But here is the "Drive's" excellent take, on the weekend news that Kenilworth is effectively conceding this next generation in Hep C -- to Gilead:
. . . .Faced with the success of Gilead's near curative products Harvoni (ledipasvir and sofosbuvir), Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and Epclusa (sofosbuvir and velpatasvir) — which brought in sales of $2.9 billion in the second quarter of 2017 —and the resulting decline in demand in the market, Merck & Co. has decided to step back from an active R&D role in this disease area. . . .
Once a hot therapeutic area, hepatitis C is no longer considered an urgent unmet medical need. There are still millions who have the chronic disease, but currently available treatments can cure the condition in as little as eight weeks. This ability to effectively cure hepatitis C patients has meant that there are fewer and fewer patients who need treatment, thus shrinking the commercial opportunity. Many of the drugmakers that once worked in this field are now shifting focus to hepatitis B, a similar liver disease still lacking good treatment options.
Last month, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., the drug development arm of Johnson & Johnson, announced that it was terminating the development of JNJ-4178, a regimen that combines three different hepatitis C medications. Janssen is shifting its focus to chronic hepatitis B. . . .
Now you know. Merck will still make lots of money on its current Hep C offerings, but this is a smart move, to take some R&D spend off the table -- where even J&J acknowledges the returns are diminishing. [This is one month's advance notice: the blog may go dormant, as I return to a public company life science role, as early as November 4, 2017 -- to help an old friend.]
नमस्ते
No comments:
Post a Comment