FDA Approves Merck's Victrelis

Advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to support Merck's drug, which beat Vertex Pharmaceuticals' hepatitis C treatment telaprevir in its race for clearance.

The US Food Administration has approved Merck's Victrelis (boceprevir), the first treatment for hepatitis C to be endorsed in almost a decade. Victrelis is a direct-acting antiviral agent that interferes with the ability of the hepatitis C virus to replicate itself by inhibiting a viral enzyme.

Victrelis has been approved for the treatment of CHC genotype 1 infection in combination with antiviral drug ribavirin and peginterferon, an immune-boosting protein sold by Merck as PegIntron and Basel, and by Roche as Pegasys.

Advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to support Merck's drug, which beat Vertex Pharmaceuticals' hepatitis C treatment telaprevir in its race for clearance.