BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX:33.06, +1.40, +4.4%) rocketed in afternoon trading Wednesday, fueled by the release of positive data for its hepatitis C drug candidate telaprevir. The Cambridge, Mass. biotech group released six abstracts of key data for telaprevir ahead of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, to be held Oct. 31 through Nov. 4 in San Francisco. The data is currently available on the association’s website at www.aasld.org. Telaprevir is currently in Phase III testing. Shares of Vertex were up over 15% at $31.42.
