I can only imagine the conversation:
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Johnson & Johnson
BMS: "Already done."
The duo expanded their partnership beyond combining BMS' daclatasvir with J&J's TMC435 to include a combination of TMC435 with BMS-986094, the compound formally known as INX-189. The companies also agreed that if daclatasvir and TMC435 work well in a phase 2 trial, they'll move it into a phase 3 trial.
The quest for an all-oral hepatitis C treatment to replace Merck's
Flying solo also poses a problem for timing. Gilead, for instance, is reportedly considering going it alone even though its GS-7977 works really well with Bristol's daclatasvir, as it has a drug of its own in the same class as daclatasvir. That choice will likely result in getting to the market slower.
Sure, combining drugs means sharing profits, but I think that's a good trade-off for the potential to be best in class and not let any other combination products pass you up.
Now if we can just get easy-to-remember trade names for all these drugs.