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Achillion is an innovative biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing important new treatments to patients with infectious disease. The Company's highly skilled and experienced discovery and development teams have advanced multiple product candidates with novel mechanisms of action. Achillion is focused on solutions for the most challenging problems in infectious disease - HCV and resistant bacterial infections.
The Company's focus is currently on developing three clinical candidates for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection. First, Achillion is developing ACH-1625, a proprietary potent, once-daily NS3 protease inhibitor currently in Phase II clinical development. Second, Achillion is evaluating in Phase 1 ACH-2684, a highly potent, pan-genotypic inhibitor of HCV NS3 protease with pico-molar potency. Finally, Achillion is advancing the first candidate from its NS5A program ACH-2928, a pico-molar potent inhibitor of HCV NS5A that demonstrates pan-genotypic activity. Achillion also has a portfolio of antibacterial drug candidates for the treatment of serious, resistant bacterial infections. Each of these programs was discovered through Achillion's own proprietary internal drug discovery efforts.
Achillion sees significant competitive advantages in developing anti-infective drugs compared to developing drugs in other therapeutic areas. The emergence of drug resistance seen with current antiviral and antibacterial therapies creates a continuing need for new drugs, providing a large and growing potential business opportunity. In addition, development cycle times tend to be somewhat shorter in infectious disease than other therapeutic areas, and early drug development results tend to be more predictive of longer term results.
Achillion is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut. Achillion's Common Stock trades on the NASDAQ market under the symbol: ACHN.
Achillion is focused on finding solutions for the most challenging problems in infectious disease:
• Resistant bacterial infections
Achillion is an innovative pharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing important new treatments to patients with infectious disease.
The market for anti-infective drugs can be divided into three main categories: antivirals, antibacterials (often referred to as antibiotics) and antifungals. To date, Achillion has focused on the research and development of products for the antiviral and antibacterial markets.
The widespread use of anti-infective drugs has led to a significant reduction in morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases. However, for many infectious diseases, current treatment options are associated with suboptimal treatment outcomes, significant drug-related adverse side effects, complex dosing schedules and inconvenient methods of administration, such as injection or infusion. These factors often lead to patients discontinuing treatment or failing to comply fully with treatment dosing schedules. As a result, physicians are often required to modify therapy regimens throughout the course of treatment.
Moreover, in recent years, the increasing prevalence of drug resistance has created ongoing treatment challenges for antiviral and antibacterial therapies. The ability of both viruses and bacteria to adapt rapidly to these treatments through genetic mutations allows new strains to develop that are resistant to currently available drugs. In addition, a patient's failure to comply fully with a treatment regimen both accelerates and exacerbates drug resistance. This is particularly well documented for HIV treatments and antibacterials.
