Hep C drug works well in twice daily dosing

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc's closely watched hepatitis C drug telaprevir proved nearly equally effective in a twice daily regimen as three times a day, knocking out the virus in more than 80 per cent of patients in both groups in a small study. All previous Phase II studies of the highly promising experimental drug tested the medicine at three times a day dosing given at eight-hour intervals. This study hoped to show telaprevir could be administered twice a day 12 hours apart, which would be more convenient for patients. Patients who received telaprevir twice a day in combination with the standard treatments of pegylated-interferon and ribavirin had a sustained viral response (SVR) of 82 per cent in one arm and 83 per cent in another, depending on which brand of interferon they received.