Seventeen of 28 biotechs and pharmas were up after reporting earnings last week. Not among the gainers was Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTX), which fell 9%, shaving nearly $1 billion off its market cap. After the bell on Thursday, the biotech reported EPS and revenues that missed the Street's estimates. Sales of HCV drug Incivek telaprevir came in at $254 million, down from $419.6 million in 3Q11 and below consensus of $273 million. Last July, Vertex cited two factors for the decrease in the number of HCV patients initiating treatment: doctors deferring treatment for emerging all oral combination therapies; and an increase in the number of HCV clinical trials. Incivek is approved for use with interferon therapy. On the all-oral combinations front, the biotech announced two deals last week to test its nucleotide HCV NS5B polymerase inhibitor, VX-135, in Phase II trials in combination with GSK2336805 from GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) and simeprevir (TMC435) from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) (see B5).

Vertex also reported sales for Kalydeco ivacaftor of $49 million, below the Street's estimate of $58 million. Kalydeco is approved in the U.S. and EU to treat cystic fibrosis (CF) in patients who have at least one copy of the G551D mutation in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. On the conference call, Vertex said it is now treating the majority of eligible G551D patients in the U.S., meaning near-term growth will likely be driven by EU reimbursement decisions.