Vertex pill could eclipse Enbrel: CEO

By Ransdell Pierson and Lewis Krauskopf

BOSTON (Reuters) - The chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Tuesday said the company's experimental treatment for rheumatoid arthritis could potentially exceed the annual sales of Amgen's (AMGN.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) blockbuster Enbrel product.

Asked if Vertex's VX-702 pill could surpass Enbrel's $2.6 billion in annual sales, Joshua Boger told reporters at the Reuters Biotechnology Summit in Boston, "Oh yeah."

Boger said Enbrel and other injectable treatments for the crippling joint disease are typically given to patients whose symptoms have already progressed, and therefore are only treating "a fraction of patients."

Vertex's VX-702 pill targets the same inflammation-causing protein as Enbrel, tumor necrosis factor. But as a pill, Boger said it would be more convenient and could sidestep problems seen with Enbrel and similar therapies, such as infections and cancers of the lymph system.

VX-702 is now in mid-stage clinical trials for treating rheumatoid arthritis. Boger said it also holds promise as a treatment for a wide array of other inflammatory illnesses, such as Crohn's disease, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis.

Boger said Vertex would be able to sell VX-702 by itself for rheumatoid arthritis in the United States, should it win approval. However, he said the company would need partners to sell the drug outside the country and for other conditions.

Shares of Vertex have more than tripled in the past nine months mostly because of enthusiasm for another drug, VX-950 for hepatitis C.

The VX-950 pill recently drove the virus down to undetectable levels within 28 days in all 12 patients of a tiny clinical trial. Standard treatments typically clear the virus in only about half of patients after a full year of treatment.  Continued...