Gilead has made it abundantly clear that it's planning on pushing on with a combination of sofosbuvir and drugs it has developed in-house. It shunned Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY ) , which also has a hepatitis C drug that produced solid data with sofosbuvir. I doubt Gilead will be interested in teaming up further on a sofosbuvir-simeprevir combination.

Fortunately for Johnson & Johnson and Medivir, simeprevir is being tested with additional hepatitis-C drugs, including Vertex's VX-135, Idenix Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ: IDIX ) IDX719 and Bristol-Myers' daclatasvir. If any of those combinations can hit 100% efficacy and the partners can agree to produce a convenient combination pill, they should have a shot at taking on Gilead.

I think it's time to storm Gilead HQ!!! lol bastards

I still can't get a grip on where Simeprevir is in the pipeline, in the U.S. anyway. I believe it's been filed for regulatory approval in Japan, and maybe Sweden...but I'd love to know how close they are in the U.S. People can say what they want about Gilead, but they're always crystal clear about these things, with nice charts and checklists of their goals and accomplishments and timelines with their various drugs...
It may be self-promotion, but it helps a lot when you're researching.
Anyway, I won't repeat everything from yesterday about my hopes for off-label treatment with Sofosbuvir and Simeprevir...but Kramer, do you know where Simeprevir is in the pipeline?

No I can't find a launch date in North America but assume it will be soon.

Hope so. Thanks for this post.

I heard Japan first. Let me see if I can find the site again. They won't beat Gilead in the US.

http://www.thepharmaletter.com/file/118008/bristol-myers-daclatasvir-combo-achieves-94-response-in-hep-c-patients.html

Let see if this pulls up. I found a better one today at work. I think BMS will make their mark, but not here. The one today I found was dated 2013.

Thanks Renee Japan is all we have found too.

I just talked to my trial doc and he said they were part of the 7977 J&J trial - he said (like BMS) the partnering contracts were in place before Gilead paid $11.4 billion for PS-7977.

My guess is BMS and J&J BOTH had the opportunity to purchase PS-7977. Gilead just jumped first. And they jumped very high.

I remember reading an article (a year ago or more) and "the guys in suits" went through some angst before the purchase. I think I remember reading the company had to borrow some of the money or they at least broke the piggy bank wide open. Let's face it, if 7977 had been a bad judgement call - it would have really hurt the company as a whole and some corporate heads would have rolled.

Just my information and thoughts

Thanks KC. I'm sure it will show up for FDA approval soon!