Boehringer Ingelheim pulls out of hepatitis C drug development

German family-owned pharma major Boehringer Ingelheim revealed that, following a re-evaluation of its strategy in hepatitis C (HCV), the company has decided not to move forward in this therapeutic area.

The HCV treatment environment has significantly and rapidly evolved since the submission of the faldaprevir marketing applications to regulatory bodies around the world. This decision was taken as there is no longer an unmet medical need for the faldaprevir interferon-based regimen that was the subject of the application, the company said. Boehringer Ingelheim will withdraw all pending marketing applications for faldaprevir worldwide and is discontinuing further development.

Late last year, US biotech firm Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) gained US approval for its hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi (sofosbuvir) and has since been cleared for marketing in Europe, and which in its first quarter on the market (January to March 2014) generated sales of $2.3 billion.