Incivek -- that will be the trade name for what Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. hopes will be its new blockbuster drug to treat the hepatitis C virus, which is believed to infect more than 3 million people in the United States.
Cambridge-based Vertex disclosed the name Incivek (pronounced in-see-veck) this afternoon when it released its first-quarter financial results. The Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to decide on May 23 whether to approve the drug, which has been known as telaprevir.
Last week, a medical advisory committee made up of antiviral drug authorities from across the country voted 18-0 to recommend that the FDA give telaprevir the green light.
The same panel also recommended approval of a rival treatment, called boceprevir, developed by New Jersey drug giant Merck & Co. Merck will market its drug under the name Victrelis if it wins FDA approval.
Both drugs act to block the protease enzyme which allows the hepatitis C virus to reproduce.
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