Idenix Pharmaceuticals Reports Data From Three Hepatitis C Development Programs at the 44th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of...( CAMBRIDGE Mass. April 23 /- Idenix Ph...)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDIX), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment of human viral diseases, today reported data from its three hepatitis C development programs being presented this week at the 44th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Copenhagen, Denmark. These presentations include data on IDX184, a once-daily, oral nucleotide polymerase inhibitor prodrug currently being evaluated in a phase Ib/IIa clinical trial, and data on two clinical candidates: IDX375, a non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor and IDX316, a protease inhibitor, both currently undergoing IND-enabling preclinical studies.

"Idenix's primary goal is to discover and develop the leading HCV antiviral platform," said Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Idenix. "With drug candidates in each of the three major classes of direct-acting HCV antivirals in our pipeline, we believe that we are well positioned to design an optimal combination therapy."

IDX184 Nucleotide Prodrug Polymerase Inhibitor

IDX184 is a liver-targeted, oral nucleotide prodrug designed to enhance the formation of its active triphosphate in the liver, while minimizing systemic exposure to IDX184 and the resulting nucleoside metabolite (NM). IDX184 is fully active against HCV genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 and, preclinically, has demonstrated increased antiviral activity when tested in combination with HCV protease inhibitors, non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors, interferon or ribavirin.

IDX184 has been evaluated in a seven-day study in HCV-infected chimpanzees, in which six genotype-1 infected chimpanzees received 10 mg/kg of IDX184 daily for four days. Data presented at EASL confir
'/>"/>