>>HCV: Current Treatments and Market Opportunity
Hepatitis C is an inflammation of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus. As the most common blood-borne infection in the United States, HCV affects 4 million Americans and 170 million individuals worldwide. Approximately 85% of those with acute illness will go on to develop chronic hepatitis, a condition that has been linked to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) and liver failure. HCV accounts for 30% of end-stage liver disease and liver cancer and is the leading cause of liver failure, which can result in the need for liver transplantation. Public health officials in the United States and abroad have mobilized to address this medical crisis by identifying detection guidelines for HCV and implementing therapies to eradicate chronic infection.(1)
Currently available HCV therapies are only modestly effective at treating the disease. The most prevalent treatment regimen is with interferon alpha (IFN alpha), usually in combination with ribavarin. IFN alpha shows only a 20% to 40% success rate in patients who complete therapy, and significant side effects result in up to half the patients either quitting treatment or moving to a lower dose regimen. Moreover, IFN alpha is least effective against HCV genotype 1, the strain responsible for 70% of chronic HCV infection cases in the United States, as compared to its effectiveness against other HCV genotypes. Rigel believes that its approach is substantially different than that of IFN: instead of working to boost the immune system, R803 rapidly, selectively and potently targets HCV by interfering with a viral polymerase protein that is needed for replication. In preclinical assays, R803 has demonstrated effectiveness against all major genotypes.
With the current high prevalence and projected increase in cases of HCV and related diseases, and with the limited success of currently available therapies, Rigel believes that the potential for new direct HCV therapeutics is large and that R803 has the potential to be at the forefront of this opportunity.
Rigel HCV Analyst/Investor Briefing
Rigel will host an analyst/investor day on Wednesday, November 19, 2003, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time at the W Hotel in New York City. The day will be devoted to the topic, "Hepatitis C: Treatment, Progress and Opportunities." Featured speakers will include: Jules L. Dienstag, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Academic and Clinical Programs, Harvard Medical School; Charles M. Rice, Ph.D., the Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, The Rockefeller University; and Rigel senior management. For additional information, or to RSVP for the analyst day, please email: hepc@rigel.com; call: 650-624-1181; or visit Rigel's website: rigel.com . A live and archived audio webcast will be available by going to Rigel's website and following the links from the homepage.<<
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Cheers, Tuck |
