AEGiS-AP: Vertex HIV Candidate Dropped by Glaxo: Vertex HIV Drug Candidate Development Halted by GlaxoSmithKline Because of Formulation Problem Associated PressImportant note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Vertex HIV Candidate Dropped by Glaxo: Vertex HIV Drug Candidate Development Halted by GlaxoSmithKline Because of Formulation Problem

Associated Press - December 18, 2006

NEW YORK - Biotech drug developer Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC will stop developing an HIV drug covered under a collaboration between the two companies.

The affected drug is brecanavir, also known VX-385. GlaxoSmithKline told Vertex it would be too difficult to develop an appropriate formulation of brecanavir. The drug was already in mid-stage clinical testing.

The collaboration, started in 1993, has already yielded two other HIV treatments that are already on the market, Agenerase and Lexiva. The abandoning of brecanavir does not affect the current marketing agreement between Vertex and GlaxoSmithKline for the other two drugs.

Shares of Vertex rose 12 cents to $39.05 in early morning trading on the Nasdaq. American depositary shares of GlaxoSmithKline added 25 cents to $52.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.


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