Merck's Shorter-Treatment Hep C Drugs Work in Mid-Stage Trial
- Gilead, AbbVie have said their drugs work against many types
- Merck aims to treat smaller populations more quickly
What's Next for Germany's Merck?
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Merck & Co.’s experimental hepatitis C drug combinations were effective against two common strains of the disease in a mid-stage trial as the company tries to show an edge over competitors Gilead Sciences Inc. and AbbVie Inc.
In the trial, which examined 240 hepatitis C patients treated with different combinations of Merck drugs, the drug cocktails wiped out the disease in more than 90 percent of patients with the two most common types of the virus. In another strain the drugs were less effective, except in patients taking a higher dose of one of the drugs. The data was reported in an abstract posted Tuesday for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.