Sustained viral response achieved in 83% of hepatitis C infected patients with new HCV protease inhibitor from Boehringer Ingelheim

BERLIN and INGELHEIM, Germany, 1 April 2011 – New data presented today at the International Liver Congress ^TM 2011, the 46th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), in Berlin, highlighted the efficacy of Boehringer Ingelheim’s once-daily oral protease inhibitor BI 201335, in both treatment-naïve and -experienced patients with chronic genotype-1 hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Genotype-1 HCV is the most challenging genotype of HCV to treat.

Results from SILEN-C1 trial show high rates of sustained viral response (SVR, which is considered viral cure) in patients with no previous treatments, who received either 120mg or 240mg BI 201335 once-daily plus the current standard-of-care (SOC), i.e. pegylated interferon (PegIFN) and ribavirin (RBV). Up to 87% of patients were able to shorten overall treatment duration from 48 to 24 weeks.

In the SILEN-C2 trial, in non-responding patients, the 240mg dose of BI 201335 once daily also achieved impressive results in a population that has not responded to SOC, and achieved such without a lead in therapy.

“The final results from the SILEN-C1 and 2 trials have demonstrated the high potential for excellent efficacy of this once daily protease inhibitor in a broad range of HCV patients,” said Professor Klaus Dugi, Corporate Senior Vice President Medicine at Boehringer Ingelheim. “The current standard-of-care in HCV is not effective for many patients. The viral cure rates achieved by protease inhibitors such as BI 201335 highlight the possibility to improve treatment outcomes as well as the option to shorten the overall treatment duration for the majority of HCV patients.”

“Boehringer Ingelheim is continuing its long heritage in virology and is dedicated to developing new medicines to improve treatment for HCV patients,” continued Professor Klaus Dugi. “BI 201335 is part of our robust HCV portfolio that we are investigating with the goal of improving current treatment and ultimately paving a path for a simpler, more effective and better tolerated HCV therapy.”