Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp amend agreement to develop and commercialize Telaprevir in Asia.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp amended their agreement for the development and commercialisation of telaprevir for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Japan and other countries in the Far East. Telaprevir is an HCV protease inhibitor currently in Phase III clinical trials in Japan, as well as in the US and in Europe. Under the terms of the amended agreement, Vertex will receive $105 M following signing, and will be eligible to receive further milestones upon approval and commercialisation in Japan. The previous agreement signed in 2004 between Vertex and Mitsubishi Tanabe provided certain development and commercial rights to telaprevir as …