CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced plans to enroll an additional treatment arm as part of its ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating 12-week regimens of Vertex’s lead investigational hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, telaprevir, in combination with its lead investigational HCV polymerase inhibitor, VX-222. The planned treatment arm is supported by emerging data from multiple ongoing clinical trials of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapies, including the trial of telaprevir/VX-222-based combination therapy, which suggest that adding ribavirin to a DAA treatment regimen may increase antiviral activity. In the additional arm, Vertex plans to evaluate a 12-week combination of three oral therapies – VX-222, telaprevir and ribavirin – dosed twice a day within a response-guided regimen.
