Third Telaprevir Pivotal Study Raises Bar For Competitors Another Notch

Collective top-line data from the Phase III program testing Vertex Pharmaceuticals' protease inhibitor telaprevir in treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced hepatitis C patients set a high bar for competitors, particularly for Merck & Co.'s boceprevir, with which telaprevir is dueling to be the first approved specifically targeted antiviral therapy for hepatitis C (STAT-C).