Need for Speed Defines Hepatitis C Race for Gilead, Achillion
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With Merck & Co. poised to disrupt competitors with new hepatitis C drugs, rivals are scrambling to get ahead the best way they can figure: make a medicine that works faster.
It’s high stakes for companies like Gilead Sciences Inc., which earned more than $12 billion in sales last year from Sovaldi and Harvoni, market-leading medicines for the liver disease. Gilead, along with Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and others, are trying to get treatment time down to six weeks or less, from 12 weeks or more offered by current drugs. Experts say it won’t be easy.