Investors in the pharma/biotech sector eagerly wait for pipeline updates as they play an important role in deciding whether or not to invest in a particular company. These updates provide information on experimental drugs and at times give an insight into the commercial potential of the candidate once it is successfully developed and commercialized.

Last week, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMY) provided an update on its hepatitis C (:HCV) candidate daclatasvir. The company announced late-breaking data from the phase III UNITY program (UNITY-1 and UNITY-2) evaluating an all-oral daclatasvir trio regimen (a fixed-dose combination of daclatasvir with asunaprevir and beclabuvir) in patients with genotype 1 HCV.

In the UNITY-2 study, the daclatasvir trio regimen in combination with ribavirin demonstrated sustained virologic response 12 weeks after treatment (SVR12) in treatment-naïve (98%) and treatment-experienced (93%) cirrhotic patients. Without ribavirin, the daclatasvir trio regimen showed SVR12 in 93% of treatment-naïve and 87% of treatment-experienced patients.

The UNITY-1 study assessed daclatasvir trio without ribavirin in treatment-naïve and -experienced non-cirrhotic patients. In the study 91% of all patients achieved SVR12.

Meanwhile, the company also announced data from the phase III ALLY-3 study which evaluated the use of daclatasvir in combination with Gilead Sciences’ (GILD) Sovaldi in genotype 3 HCV patients. In the study the combination treatment showed SVR12 in 90% and 86% of treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients, respectively.

We expect investor focus to remain on updates regarding HCV combination therapies, going forward.

Bristol-Myers carries a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy). Other well-ranked stocks in the health care sector are Allergan (AGN) and AbbVie (ABBV). Both carry the same rank as Bristol-Myers.

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