Merck wins US FDA OK for boceprevir, beating Vertex in hep C race
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
Not even the superstition of Friday the 13th could stop Merck from having good luck on 13 May when the US FDA approved the Whitehouse Station, New Jersey pharma's hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment Victrelis (boceprevir) – beating rival Vertex Pharmaceuticals to the finish line with the first new therapy in about a decade for the viral disease, which affects about 3.2 million people in the US, causing inflammation of the liver, which can lead to diminished function or even failure.