HGSI's Hepatitis Drug Zalbin: When an FDA Rejection Is Good News

The FDA is none too pleased withHuman Genome Sciences‘ (HGSI) new hepatitis C drugZalbin (albinterferon alfa-2b), but that may be a blessing in disguise given entrenched competition and changing treatment landscape marring the drug’s commercial potential.

Although the FDA isn’t set to rule officially on Zalbin’s approval until October, the agency sent HGSI a letter yesterday expressing concerns about the drug’s risk/benefit ratio and warning that approval at the current dose is unlikely.

Most Hepatitis C infections cured by experimental drug

A new drug for Hepatitis C was found to essentially cure patients good news for the nearly four million Americans with the disease.

The experimental drug telaprevir was found to eliminate Hepatitis C in seventy-five percent of patients given the drug for six months compared to forty percent of those given standard therapy. Over one thousand patients participated in the study.

The drug has not been approved by the FDA, but experts are hopeful that if it is, it will permanently change the landscape of hepatitis C treatment.