Achillion shares fall on concerns over hep C drug's future
On Thursday, investment website Seeking Alpha said the company was at a disadvantage as none of its hepatitis drugs in development were nucleosides.
While Brean Murray Carret analyst Brian Skorney felt the investor reaction was a fallout of the article, he didn't think the article was "fundamentally meaningful," or raised any new concerns.
Achillion's experimental hepatitis C drug, ACH-1625, is expected to compete with rival drugs from Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX.O) and Merck & Co (MRK.N), but must be taken with commercially manufactured interferon, and is seen facing a big threat from nucleotide drugs.
Most hepatitis C drugs used now are combination therapies, and these new drugs -- nucleosides -- could be a game changer for both patients and physicians.
Inhibitex (INHX.O), Pharmasset VRUS.O and Idenix (IDIX.O) are all developing a promising new type of hepatitis C medicine called nucleotide polymerase inhibitors, which work by targeting polymerase -- an enzyme essential for replication of the hepatitis C virus.
"The Seeking Alpha comment that Achillion's pipeline is a long shot could have had some negative effect. Also the stock has run up ... so some people are taking profit. Those are the potential possibilities," said William Blair & Co analyst Katherine Xu.
Since the beginning of the year, Achillion's stock has risen 39 percent, sparked by M&A activity in the hepatitis C treatment space.
"On the fundamental side, I don't think the company has changed anything since the last week," Xu added.
Shares of the New Haven, Connecticut-based company were down 9.5 percent at $9.54. They fell to a low of $9.40 earlier in the session.
By Shailesh Kuber
REUTERS
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/us-achillion-shares-idUSTRE80J1LU20120120
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