Money Talks - If The Hepatitis C Market Is The Next Mecca For The Pharmaceutical Fat Cats, Who Will Win The Rat Race?

Is the Hepatitis C market the next Mecca for the pharmaceutical sector? If so, who will win the rat race: the millions of HCV patient with little or no resources or the pharmaceutical fat cats. It seems like the fat cats are salivating right now if we go by the flurry of activity and heightened interest in the HCV market. The Hepatitis C virus (HCV) market seems to have caught the eye of several pharma/biotech companies – as evident by the deals being signed for the development of drugs for the treatment of HCV.


Biotech rivalries are like bare knuckles boxing matches: two lone fighters battle until they are beaten and bloodied for the prize. But the hepatitis C market is turning into a battle royal that’s more wide open and unpredictable. The medical advances in hepatitis C have been dizzying this year, especially in what it means in terms of multi-billion dollar business implications. The safest thing to say is that there’s plenty of good news for patients this year, but that shareholders in the major hepatitis C drug developers had better hold on tight as a new standard of care gets established.

Pharmaceutical Companies Battling For Big HCV Profits

The Allure of the HCV Market
HCV is a hot development area which has come into the limelight with the launch of two new treatments – Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ (NASDAQ:VRTX) Incivek and Merck’s (NYSE:MRK) Victrelis. Both drugs gained approval in the US earlier this year. Incivek, which was launched in May 2011, posted a whopping $419.6 million in sales in the first full quarter of its launch.


With two new recently launched products in the market, why is the HCV market considered so attractive? Firstly, it is estimated that about 170 million people suffer from HCV infection across the world. However, the treated population is much lower. In major markets like the US, EU, Japan, Australia, Turkey, Canada, only 200,000 HCV patients out of a total of more than 12 million are estimated to receive treatment each year. This means a huge number of HCV patients go untreated, leaving the field open for new treatments. 


A 48-week course of both peg-interferon and ribavirin are the standard treatment for genotype 1 HCV infection. However, this treatment regimen is associated with significant side-effects like fatigue, flu-like symptoms, rash, depression and anemia. As we have seen with me, it is tough to say the least. However, let's not forget that my extreme side effects, the endless itching and pain of the rash, was caused by the new Protease Inhibitor and not the other drugs. Hell, in retrospect, the other drugs that I still take every week are a walk in the park in comparison. Yes, it sucks, but it is so very far from hell on earth.


With a large number of HCV patients failing to achieve a sustained viral response (SVR) on the current standard of care, there are several patients who would be open to treatment with new and potentially more effective therapies. These factors have made the HCV market an attractive commercial opportunity for pharma and biotech companies. It also has made it attractive to the millions of patients like myself with the American genotype. Suddenly we have a chance to live that has risen from about 45% to almost 80% treatment success rate.


Cocktail Therapy – The Next Big Thing in HCV
The goal is to change the treatment paradigm for HCV patients by providing them with all-oral treatment regimens. The aim is to develop a treatment which does not require the administration of interferon, thereby doing away with a whole range of side effects. The treatment duration will also be shorter. In retrospect, I wish I had waited until such treatments were available, but regrets are silly. I am powerless over the past and I cannot change it. All I can do is embrace health and happiness in the future.

The Financial Fat Cats Love The HCV Marketplace As It Opens Up

Who Will Win the Rat Race?
With several companies pursuing cocktail therapies for HCV, it will be interesting to see which of these companies will be the first to hit the market with a new treatment option. Hopefully, the rat race will help the millions of infected Americans and not just line of the pockets of the pharmaceutical fat cats.

Night 145 - Innovations In Hepatitis C Treatment Definitely One Of The Major Medical And Financial Breakthroughs Of 011

Several other Protease Inhibitors are being developed as well, including the nightmare experience I had with the Protease Inhibitor by BI. Still, I believe I will be cured so it does work, and my side effects were more extreme than anyone else in the clinical trials. Lucky boy!

Drug Research Is Big Business: 4-6 Million HCV Infected Adults In The US

Overall, the innovation in the Hepatitis C treatment arena and thus the overall marketplace are nothing less than stunning. Within a few years, it looks like Interferon and Ribavirin will be removed from the treatment regimen, replaced by a Protease Inhibitor that covers all the bases. How great is that!

But let me be clear about my response to these incredible innovations. Despite the severity of my side effects, I am not bitter about my decision to enter the clinical trial and get treatment now. It was the right decision to make at the time, and my bad luck in regards to the side effects was just that - simple bad luck with no dark magic or evil curses. Hey, sometimes we roll the bones and we come up aces and sometimes we just crap out.

Such is life, and I choose to free myself from the burden of bitterness and regret. What's the point?! It's not like I was playing with loaded dice and got screwed. Sometimes the universe works for you and sometimes you work hard for the universe.
             I wish we had more control, but, as the French say, C'est La Vie!

If you choose to hold tight and carry the bitter weight of your regrets, do not ask why their no fluidity or rhythm to your life. What the hell do you expect when you are so overwhelmed by the horrors of the past that you sacrifice the freedom to live in the present.

Here is the article below about some of the new Hep C innovations:

2011 has brought patients with hepatitis C not one but two new groundbreaking medicines to treat the condition. Merck’s Victrelis (boceprevir) and Johnson & Johnson/Vertex’s Incivek (telaprevir) were both launched in the US in May. 

The drugs are both oral protease inhibitors, and promise to significantly improve treatment when added to the current standard treatments for the disease. An estimated 270-300 million people throughout the world have the disease.

Analysts predict Incivek will prevail because it has shown a higher cure rate, and a simpler and faster simpler dosing regimen. But Vertex, which has never launched a drug before, will have to overcome the might of Merck and its new US marketing partner Roche. 

Vertex’s belief in the superiority of its product is reflected in its price, which is $49,200 for a 12-week course. This cost is much higher than Victrelis, and is equivalent to the price of a whole 48-week treatment with Merck’s drug. 

Incivek has had the best start, earning $420 million between May to October, while the same period saw Victrelis earn a more modest $31 million.