A well-stocked bar

With HCV therapy headed inexorably toward all-oral cocktails of direct-acting antivirals, Roche's acquisition of Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. will set up the pharma with one of the best-stocked bars in the industry.

It's too early to know which combinations of targets and mechanisms will be best. However, the 256% acquisition premium, along with this month's data for Anadys' setrobuvir and Abbott Laboratories' ABT-072 and ABT-333, suggests investors may have written off non-nucleoside HCV NS5B polymerase inhibitors too soon...