allotment, page-118

Well here's my 17c worth...

This is a really good thread with heaps of educated debate. To my mind a balanced (both sides) argument is always a good one.

For mine -

1. worthind's link says a lot for me. A shot gun approach has always been required here (4 drugs are referenced), a couple of which hold some unpalatable side effects. This isn't going to be solved by a 2p (protease + polymerase inhibition) drug regimen and I expect that big Pharma knows the same. Have a look at slide 17 in the latest BIT presso to investors. BIT225 acts as an inhibition to viral assembly within the infected cell. An intra-cellar drug regime that targets 3 biochemical steps seems like a smart way to stop HCV replication.

(http://www.easl.eu/_newsroom/press-release/quadruple-therapy-shows-100-sustained-virological-response-svr-for-hcv-patients-previously-unresponsive-to-treatment)

2. the statistical debate is somewhat mute, but if one were to run a non-parametric (stat) analysis on this data, I'm sure that it would render a significant (p<0.05) outcome. The data is not normally (statistically speaking) distributed and the small sample size also warrents non-parametric analysis, but it is a Ph1b/2a trial and needs to be viewed as such.

3. This comment of Michelle's resonates with me...
"In the HIV arena, BIT225 represents an extremely promising first in class opportunity to eliminate the virus from underlying reservoirs, where until now it has been able to “hide” from standard antiretroviral therapies."

4. Finally, and perhaps most importantly the short term focus on HCV (and even HIV) may turn out to be somewhat myopic, there are greater things afoot here, from the latest investor presso..

- Identified new class of viral proteins called viroporins
- Present in broad range of viruses including HIV, Hep C, Dengue virus ,influenza, SARS (E) and others
- Designed and made a library of new drugs (~350 compounds) to target these viral proteins
- Developed rapid screening assays for the targets
- Generated first-in-class drugs to treat diseases with high unmet medical need

All good by my call and certainly appreciated the educated input of posters on this stock

bluebush