Advertisement Achillion nominates new candidate from HCV protease program - Pharmaceutical Business review
Pharmaceutical Business review is using cookies

ContinueLearn More
Close

Achillion nominates new candidate from HCV protease program

Achillion Pharmaceuticals has nominated the first clinical candidate from its proprietary hepatitis C virus protease program. The candidate, ACH-1625, is a highly selective inhibitor of HCV NS3 protease.

In preclinical studies, Achillion has demonstrated that ACH-1625 has an excellent safety profile and a pharmacokinetic profile characterized by rapid and extensive partitioning to the liver. ACH-1625 has also exhibited superior potency against NS3 protease in hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicon assays compared to protease inhibitors in more advanced stages of development.

Michael Kishbauch, president and CEO of Achillion, said: “We are very encouraged by the excellent safety, potency and PK profile exhibited by ACH-1625 to-date, and we expect to initiate a phase I study in the first half of 2009. We are quite excited by the potential to have two HCV candidates operating by distinct mechanisms in the clinic next year.”