Boehringer Ingelheim reports positive data from hepatitis/HIV drug trial

Boehringer Ingelheim has announced encouraging interim study data for a potentially beneficial new therapy for hepatitis C patients who are also infected with HIV.

Data from the STARTverso 4 trial showed that faldaprevir combined with pegylated interferon and ribavirin delivered early treatment success among 80 percent of patients, suggesting the new product could help cut therapy duration from 48 to 24 weeks.

A majority of patients achieved improvements with this new combination drug offering regardless of whether they were treatment-naive or had relapsed after prior therapy.

There is a high unmet medical need for new drugs for this indication due to the limited treatment options currently available.

Professor Klaus Dugi, senior vice-president for medicine at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: "The potential for a shorter treatment duration for these patients is important, particularly in reducing the length of time they are exposed to possible side effects associated with a year-long course of interferon."

Earlier this week, the company announced the commencement of a phase III trial of volasertib, a new therapy for acute myeloid leukaemia patients who are ineligible for intensive therapy.