Achillion nominates ACH-2928 NS5A clinical candidate for treatment of HCV

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:ACHN), a leader in the discovery and development of treatments for the most challenging infectious diseases, today announced the nomination of a lead clinical candidate in its fourth proprietary program against hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The candidate, ACH-2928, is an NS5A inhibitor that in preclinical studies has demonstrated excellent potency against HCV RNA replication, as well as good pharmacokinetic and safety profiles.

"The overall profile of ACH-2928 demonstrates that it is highly active and retains potency against HCV genotypes 1a and 1b, as well as across other genotypes. The compound's high potency, in the picomolar range, and its favorable pharmacokinetic properties strongly suggest once-daily dosing," said Milind S. Deshpande, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Achillion. "Importantly, we believe ACH-2928 is highly effective in combination with NS3 protease inhibitors, NS5B polymerase inhibitors, interferon and ribavirin."

Michael D. Kishbauch, Achillion's President and CEO, stated, "The nomination of this novel NS5A clinical candidate is both exciting and significant. The treatment paradigm for HCV is moving toward combination therapies, and we are now poised to pursue our own combination therapies, putting ACH-2928 together with our highly potent protease inhibitors, ACH-1625 and ACH-2684. The development of our fourth proprietary HCV program underscores the depth of our robust drug discovery expertise in this important therapeutic area. We have initiated IND-enabling testing of ACH-2928, and plan to initiate combination treatment in 2011."

"The nomination of ACH-2928 is further evidence of our expertise in HCV drug discovery and structure-based design. We continue to build discrete intellectual property estates to which we retain all commercial rights," concluded Kishbauch.