NEW YORK (AP) — Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which reported more than $1 billion in sales of its hepatitis C drug Incivek in 2012, said Thursday it won't invest any more money on research and development of new treatments for the disease.
Vertex said it will license an experimental hepatitis C drug called VX-135 to Alios BioPharma. Revenue from Incivek dropped almost 90 percent in the first quarter as the drug was supplanted by newer treatments and Vertex sold its overseas marketing rights.
In April Gilead Sciences Inc. said sales of its hepatitis C drug Sovaldi totaled $2.27 billion in its first full quarter on the market. Sovaldi got U.S. approval in December and European Union approval in January.
Vertex wrote down the entire value of one experimental treatment for hepatitis C during the fourth quarter and it took an impairment charge related to another. The company also cut about 370 jobs in response to competition from other hepatitis C treatments...
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