Idenix Shares Plunge as 2 Hepatitis-Drug Programs Put on Hold

Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell the most ever in Nasdaq trading after two experimental hepatitis C drugs were placed on hold by U.S. regulators because they produced adverse effects in testing.

Idenix fell $2.85, or 48 percent, to $3.14 at 10:22 a.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. It was the biggest decline for the company since it began selling shares to the public in July 2004.

The experimental drugs, IDX184 and IDX320, caused three serious adverse events when tested together in healthy volunteers, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Idenix said in a statement today. The Food and Drug Administration said the testing should stop after the two in combination caused abnormal liver function.

“We will be focusing all necessary resources at Idenix at supplying the FDA with all the data and information they need to help us resolve this clinical hold as quickly as possible, hopefully by the end of the year,” said Idenix Chief Executive Officer Jean-Pierre Sommadossi on a conference call with analysts.

The delay means no new subjects can be recruited for studies. No patients or healthy volunteers are currently receiving the drugs, Idenix said. FDA officials haven’t yet reviewed data from other clinical trials, Idenix said.

The company will work to “provide the FDA with more information in order to expedite their review and resolve the matter as quickly as possible,” Sommadossi said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net; Shannon Pettypiece at spettypiece@bloomberg.net.

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