Does Bristol Nuc’s Possible Cardiac Toxicity Portend A Class Effect?

Of seven nucleoside polymerase inhibitors (aka “nucs”) that have reached Phase II in development for hepatitis C, five have faced significant safety hurdles, with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s halt of a Phase II trial for its nuc, BMS-986094, due to a trial participant suffering heart failure just the latest occurrence. While Bristol has stopped dosing in that trial to review relevant patient data to ascertain a possibly safety risk with BMS094, some Wall Street analysts are wondering whether there is a class-wide safety issue with nucs.

Prior to Bristol’s Aug. 1 announcement, nucs such as Roche’s R1626, Novartis AG and Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s NM283, Idenix’s IDX184 and Pharmasset Inc.’s PSI-938 all had...