Boehringer Ingelheim and Presidio to collaborate on hepatitis drug trial

Boehringer Ingelheim is entering into a new alliance with Presidio Pharmaceuticals, focusing on a promising hepatitis C drug trial.

The non-exclusive collaboration will see the companies jointly carrying out a phase IIa clinical trial of an interferon-free, all-oral, direct-acting antiviral combination treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

This new therapy combines Presidio's pan-genotypic HCV NS5A inhibitor PPI-668 with Boehringer Ingelheim's HCV protease inhibitor faldaprevir BI201335 and its non-nucleoside HCV polymerase inhibitor BI207127.

A 12-week study will be launched by the partners during the second quarter of 2013, with Presidio Pharmaceuticals taking primary operational responsibility for the trial.

Dr Nathaniel Brown, Presidio's chief medical officer, said: "The study will assess the potential of this three-drug oral regimen to achieve high rates of sustained viral clearance in hepatitis C patients with good tolerance."

Earlier this month, Boehringer Ingelheim reported positive data from a phase III trial of faldaprevir, a new therapy for people co-infected with hepatitis C and HIV.