News Ticker-GS-7977,Incivek,Victrelis and Only Paying For HCV Drugs If They Work

Good Afternoon Folks,
Gilead's experimental hepatitis C drug GS-7977 formally PSI-7977 failed two additional patients in the small ten patient mid-stage trial. These latest results bring the number up to eight patients who have relapsed in trial with GS-7977 and ribavirin combination. You can read more from MedPage Today or read "Interferon-Free Hepatitis C Tx Hits Snag", here on the blog

Also in the news is INCIVEK interim results in people co-infected with Hepatitis C and HIV .

 Data showed 74 percent (28/38) of patients who were treated with INCIVEK (in-SEE-veck) combination therapy had undetectable hepatitis C virus (HCV RNA) 12 weeks after the end of all study treatment (SVR12) compared to 45 percent (10/22) who were treated with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin alone.

Read More Here 

Incivek -Victrelis
The best coverage on both Incivek and Victrelis can be found at NATAP . As always the site is covering the 19th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections -CROI  

Telaprevir in Combination with Peginterferon Alfa-2a/Ribavirin in HCV/HIV Co-infected Patients: SVR12 Interim Analysis -

Boceprevir Plus Peginterferon/Ribavirin for the Treatment of HCV/HIV Co-Infected Patients 

HCV PI Boceprevir Lowers Levels of Three Key HIV PIs - written by Mark Mascolini 

Today published at MedPage
 Early Data Show Drugs Effective in HCV Plus HIV (CME/CE)
SEATTLE (MedPage Today) -- Two new drugs that directly target hepatitis C are effective in people also infected with HIV, researchers reported here.

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GI & Hepatology News is the official newspaper of the AGA Institute and provides the gastroenterologist with timely and relevant news and commentary about clinical developments and about the impact of health-care policy.

Off The Cuff
Today, I ran across an interesting article titled "Pay For Prescription Drugs Only If They Work?", written by Ed Silverman over at pharmalot . You may also find the article interesting, once you know
the backstory.

The article caught my eye because the notorious Sam Waksal is at the center of the article. Waksal is the former CEO of ImClone Systems, whose insider trading lead to a seven year prison sentence. He wasn't the only person sent to prison, if you remember so was Martha Stewart. So the story goes, while Waksal was the CEO at ImClone the company developed the cancer drug Erbitux, which never made FDA approval. Sam Waksal knew the drug wasn't going to be approved, he also knew the companies stock would fall once the news on the FDA decision was made public. Waksal then told his family, friends and the famous Martha Stewart to sell the stock. The CEO was arrested in 2002 for insider trading. He was released in 2009, and the following year Waksal announced a new enterprise;

Waksal said his drug company Kadmon Pharmaceuticals has bought the privately held Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals, and that its treatments for hepatitis C, infections and cancer will be the backbone of his new enterprise".

Well folks, today Sam Waksal is back. In the pharmalot article Waksal is suggesting people who purchase prescription drugs should only pay for them if they work. A smart ploy? Wish it was true, I also wish this concept was coming from a respectable source. Anyhoo, here is what Waksal had to say about paying for hepatitis C drugs - if they don't work. 

If a treating doc determines the patient is benefiting, then the drugmaker should be paid. For other diseases, criteria would be “more straightforward,” he continues. People with hepatitis C who exhibit what is called a ’sustained viral response’ would pay for a medication, but others would not, he continues. The idea, he explains, is to shift the paradigm away from ‘me too’ drugs.

Waksal just keeps going, sort of like a bad side effect - if only he knew. On each occasion I have seen his name mentioned simultaneously with hepatitis C, I feel intense anger.

The columnist Ed Silverman is taking a poll, he's asking if "Pay-For-Response Medicine Is A Workable Idea?" At the bottom of article you are asked to vote.
Please do read the entire article - here.