Roche, Intermune In Hepatitis Deal

Roche and InterMune will develop and commercialize products from InterMune's hepatitis C virus protease inhibitor program. The agreement includes the firm's lead compound, ITMN-191, expected to enter clinical trials by year's end. The companies will also collaborate on second-generation protease inhibitors. InterMune will receive an up-front payment of $60 million and has the potential to reap up to $470 million in milestone payments. Roche will fund 67% of development costs; the companies will co-commercialize the product in the U.S. and share profits on a 50-50 basis.