Seattle-based ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ZGEN]]) will receive a $70 million milestone payment from its partner, Bristol-Myers Squibb, for starting a mid-stage clinical trial of pegylated interferon lambda for hepatitis C, according to a statement. The trial, called Emerge, will initially enroll 50 patients on a variety of doses, then expand to 500 patients who are randomly assigned to get the ZymoGenetics drug or Roche’s peginterferon-alfa 2a (Pegasys). ZymoGenetics’ pegylated interferon lambda, sometimes called IL-29, is designed to have potent anti-viral activity without the nasty flu-like symptoms that force many patients to quit taking other interferon drugs.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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