Vertex Jumps More Than 25 Percent on Hepatitis Drug Data

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:VRTX]]) of Cambridge, MA, saw its stock soar today after preliminary data from a small ongoing trial of its oral hepatitis C drug Telaprevir were released in a conference abstract.

The abstract indicated that patients for whom standard hepatitis treatments had previously failed responded well to Telaprevir. The data are scheduled to be presented at a late April meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver in Milan.

Vertex shares reached as high as $24.20 before closing at $23.89, up $5.23 (28 percent) from yesterday’s close.

Author: Robert Buderi

Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative. Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.