IDENIX AND NOVARTIS GIVE UPDATE ON GLOBE STUDY

Idenix Pharmaceuticals and Novartis announced the results of the GLOBE study at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, being held in San Francisco. Results from the ongoing study demonstrate that the investigational drug telbivudine provides significantly greater response on all evaluated virologic markers compared to lamivudine after one year, in both HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative patients with chronic hepatitis B.

Patients treated with telbivudine achieved significantly greater viral suppression than patients treated with lamivudine. Patients treated with telbivudine also experienced significantly higher rates of non-detectable viral levels. The GLOBE study, a Phase III clinical trial, includes 1,367 patients from 20 countries and is the largest registration trial of chronic hepatitis B patients ever conducted. The GLOBE study is the first global chronic hepatitis B registration trial to include patients from China, where the disease is highly prevalent.