Vertex Pharmaceuticals Researchers Report Three-Dimensional Structure Of Hepatitis C Helicase Enzyme; Report In...( irrhosis liver failure and liver cance...)

irrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer with devastating health consequences. Sources at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently estimated that approximately 3.9 million Americans, or more than one percent of the population, may be infected with HCV. An additional 3-4 million people in Europe and Japan carry the hepatitis C virus. Currently, there is no vaccine available to prevent hepatitis C infection.

Current treatment options for hepatitis C are widely acknowledged to be suboptimal. The only drug approved for the treatment of hepatitis C, interferon alpha, provides long-term therapeutic benefit to only about 25 percent of patients treated. Recent clinical research results indicate that combination antiviral therapy for HCV patients, in particular interferon alpha plus ribavirin, may improve response rates.

In 1996, Vertex researchers reported solving the structure of hepatitis C protease, another crucial enzyme involved in viral replication, in the journal Cell. That discovery propelled forward a multidisciplinary effort underway to identify small molecule inhibitors of HCV protease. In 1997, Vertex entered a collaboration with Eli Lilly & Co. to design and develop compounds directed against HCV protease. The deal calls for Eli Lilly to provide up to $50 million in research support and other payments, as well as pay Vertex royalties on product sales. Lilly will have worldwide marketing rights.

The authors of the Structure paper are Joseph L. Kim, Kurt A. Morgenstern, James P. Griffith, Maureen D. Dwyer, John A. Thomson, Mark A. Murcko, Chao Lin, and Paul R. Caron, all of Vertex.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) is engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel, small molecule pharmaceuticals for the treatment of diseases for which there are currently limited or no effective treatments. The Company is a
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Contact: Michael Partridge
partridge@vpharm.com
(617) 577-6108
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
15-Jan-1998

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