Telaprevir: Phase IIIb start

This month, Johnson & Johnson's Tibotec Pharmaceuticals Ltd. unit will begin the open-label, international Phase IIIb OPTIMIZE trial to evaluate telaprevir in 700 treatment-naïve patients with chronic HCV genotype 1 infection. Patients will receive twice-daily 1,125 mg or thrice-daily 750 mg telaprevir in combination with Pegasys peginterferon alfa-2a and twice-daily Copegus ribavirin for 12 weeks, after which patients will receive Pegasys and Copegus alone for an additional 12 or 36 weeks based on their week 4 treatment responses. ...