Schering-Plough is encouraged by new test results

Schering-Plough has been encouraged by the results of a phase-II trial of boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor.

The test saw the drug be given to 595 treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1, with results over a 28 and 48-week period being recorded.

Paul Kwo, medical director of liver transplantation at the department of medicine, division of gastroenterology/hepatology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, presented the study findings to the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver.

“These interim results are very encouraging , especially given the response seen with a shorter course of therapy in a difficult-to-treat patient population,” he said.

Mr Kwo, who was principal investigator on the trial, added that boceprevir has also been well tolerated by the patients in the test and that further results from the ongoing study are eagerly anticipated.

Also presented at the annual meeting were the results of a study which compared the leading therapies for chronic hepatitis C.