Pharmasset Inc. (VRUS) climbed as much as 8.1 percent after the company said its experimental drug for treating hepatitis C cured all patients in a study. Pharmasset gained 4.1 percent to $72.95 at 9:41 a.m. New York time. The shares of the Princeton, New Jersey-based company earlier reached as high as $74.45, their biggest intraday jump this month. All 40 patients who received Pharmasset’s experimental PSI- 7977 drug were responsive after 12 weeks, the company said yesterday the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in San Francisco. About half the patients had been followed up to 24 weeks, and they were all cured. There were no significant adverse events.
