Vertex Hep C Competitor (NASDAQ:VRTX)

Competition in the biotech sector is always cut-throat and that is what makes this sector more dynamic than any other as the faith of the company lies directly in the hands of the researchers that come out with life saving drugs that can sweep the market by storm. Currently the hepatitis C drug called telaprevir from Vertex Pharmaceuticals is going through the Phase III clinical trials and is expected to be the first new drug in years to be approved for the treatment of chronic liver disease. However, the question is how long can telaprevir maintain its importance in the market? And which drug will come up as a major competitor for telaprevir in the next few years?

Boerhinger Ingelheim’s BI-201335, better known as drug 335 is one major competitor for Vertex Pharmaceutical’s telaprevir as the Wall Street is getting ready for the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease annual meeting that will be held from Oct. 30 through Nov. 4. The drug 335 is very much like Vertex’ telaprevir and therefore investors will see a good contest between the two drug companies.

Like telaprevir, drug 335 is also a protease inhibitor that targets the hepatitis C virus, but one major factor that makes drug 335 has is that it needs to be dosed only once a day, wherelse Vertex’s telaprevir will have an approval of dosing three times a day. Vertex Pharmaceuticals have said that telaprevir can also be given on a twice-daily schedule and that should not make any difference to the patients. On the other hand, the drug 335 is still in trial phase and therefore a year behind Vertex’s telaprevir in terms of clinical development. Also, there are concerns and issues related to the 335 safety as there are reports of jaundice and severe rash which needs to be resolved by the manufacturers of drug 335.