Merck’s Hepatitis C Drugs May Challenge Gilead and AbbVie
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Merck & Co. said its experimental hepatitis C drug combination cured 95 percent of previously untreated patients in a late-stage study that suggests it may be competitive with Gilead Sciences Inc. and AbbVie Inc. medicines.
The study also found that among patients who failed other treatments, a combination of Merck’s grazoprevir and elbasvir drugs had a cure rate of 92 percent after a 12-week course of therapy. The combination cured the condition in 95 percent of patients with both hepatitis C and HIV, and it had even better success among those with hepatitis C and cirrhosis of the liver. Merck is presenting the data at a meeting in Vienna on Friday.