Potential Safety Issue Identified in Ongoing Phase 2 Clinical Study ...( - Early Antiviral Activity with HCV-7...),Health

- Early Antiviral Activity with HCV-796 Supports Follow-up with Standard of

Care Including Evaluation of Sustained Virologic Response (SVR) -

- Company to Host Conference Call at 10:00 AM ET Today -

EXTON, Pa., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ViroPharma Incorporated (Nasdaq: VPHM) announced today the decision made with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), to discontinue dosing with HCV-796 in combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin in its current Phase 2 study. All subjects, following consultation with the principal investigators at each site, will have the option of continuing on the combination therapy of pegylated interferon and ribavirin, the standard of care. This decision follows yesterday's review by the joint safety review board of safety data accumulated to date, which show elevated liver enzyme levels in some patients after 8 weeks or more of therapy with HCV-796 with pegylated interferon and ribavirin.

The companies conducted a thorough safety review of liver enzyme levels in all patients. Clinically significant elevations of liver enzymes were observed in approximately eight percent of patients receiving HCV-796, including two patients who experienced serious adverse events leading to withdrawal from active therapy with HCV-796, pegylated interferon and ribavirin. In contrast, elevated liver enzymes were seen in only one percent of patients on standard of care. Elevations of liver enzymes appear to be tran
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SOURCE ViroPharma Incorporated Copyright©2007 PR Newswire.

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