Pharmasset(VRUS) is starting late-stage clinical trials of its lead hepatitis C drug with the goal of becoming the first company to reach the market with an all-oral therapy against the chronic liver disease. Three phase III studies will combine Pharmasset's once-daily experimental pill PSI-7977 with another oral medicine ribavirin. Most notably, the treatment regimen used in these studies will exclude weekly injections of interferon, a standard drug used today to treat hepatitis C. If results from these PSI-7977 studies are positive, Pharmasset plans to seek U.S. and European approval in the second half of 2013.
