3 ms·

What is the genesis of this drug? Was it started in a university? Acquired?

• georgewfraser 12y ago
  It was created at a small pharma company called Pharmasset. The founders also worked on some of the AIDs drugs in the early 90s, and it's based on the same chemistry: nucleic acid analogues. They worked on a variety of drugs, this was their big winner. It was bought by Gilead for $11b at a time when only one phase 2 trial had completed and about 12 patients had been cured for a couple months. It's important to point out that it was by no means a sure thing, and indeed many of these patients relapsed. Only by combining it with an older drug were they able to get these high cure rates.
  • busyant 12y ago
    Back in 2012 (I think), I thought it was insane that they were willing to pay $11B for Pharmasset based on Phase 2 data. At the very least, it was a ballsy move that has generated about 6 billion in revenue in just the 1st 6 months on market in the U.S. Note that Bristol Myers Squibb paid about 2.5Billion to acquire a competing company (Inhibitex) and that drug had to be junked for safety issues shortly after the acquisition.
• refurb 12y ago
  Gilead bought Pharmasset a few years back for $11B. Apparently it was discovored by Pharmasset, but I remember hearing they actually picked up the program from another small company.