FDA Approves Hepatitis C Drug Incivek from Vertex

There’s a lot of focus on Hepatitis C of late and it was just a couple weeks ago that Merck also received FDA approval for their new drug. Vertex is up and running with all the patient and physician information posted on their website for additional information and it also has it’s own website: www.incivek.com. In addition they have included the product in their financial assistance program so those who need help with affording the drug have options who do not have insurance.

FDA Approves Merck Victrelis Oral Hepatitis C Virus Inhibitor–New Class of Medicine

It doesn’t stop there as Boehringer has fast track approval and had moved into Phase 3 on their clinical trials so another treatment option is perhaps not too far in the distance. BD

Boehringer Ingelheim Receives FDA Fast Track Approval for Hepatitis C Virus Treatment and Moves In To Phase 3 Trials

The US Food and Drug Administration today approved Incivek, a hepatitis C treatment that is expected to be a blockbuster drug for Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Cambridge.

Last month, a medical advisory committee unanimously recommended that telaprevir, the experimental drug Vertex developed to treat the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus, be approved by the FDA. The agency typically follows the panel's advice. Incivek is the brand name that telaprevir will be marketed under.

Vertex has been working on the treatment since 1993. Incivek will become the first drug commercialized solely by Vertex in its 22-year history, a recent Globe story noted.

The company is gearing up to compete with a rival tablet from Merck & Co. in a market that analysts project will initially top $2 billion a year, and could grow to $10 billion or more.