( Potent synergy activity and patient to...)Intarcia Therapeutics Announces Presentation of Final Results From,a Phase 2 Combination Study for the Treatment of Hepatitis C at the,Digestive Disease Week Conference,Health

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced the presentation of final results from a Phase 2 study comparing the combination of injectable omega interferon and ribavirin to omega interferon alone in treatment-naive patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C. The results demonstrate that omega interferon in combination with ribavirin is well tolerated and shows robust antiviral activity that is comparable to published data on the use of alpha interferon plus ribavirin in similar patient populations. The 72-week sustained viral response (SVR) data are being presented today at the Digestive Disease Week Conference in Washington, DC by Bruce R. Bacon, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.

This Phase 2 study of daily subcutaneous omega interferon injections provides Intarcia with safety and clinical response data to support development of omega interferon delivered by continuous release from the DUROS(R) device.

"The safety and SVR rates achieved in this phase 2 study are encouraging in that they indicate that the combination of omega interferon and ribavirin may produce response rates which are similar to those achieved with alpha interferon and ribavirin in patients with HCV genotype-1," said Dr. Bacon. "The positive results of this study allow us to proceed with the evaluation of continuous delivery of omega interferon delivered with the DUROS device. A trial evaluating dose response of the Omega DUROS device is expected to begin in the near future."

The Phase 2 trial compared the safety and antiviral response of omega interferon alone with omega interferon in combination with ribavirin in 102 interferon-na
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