Summer 2016 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine
Bobcat breakthrough in hepatitis C treatment
Forty-eight weeks is a long time to endure a physically punishing treatment with only a 40 percent success rate. This was the reality for patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV). President and CEO of Achillion Pharmaceuticals and 51 alumnus Milind Deshpande, PHD ’87, was determined to create a drug with better outcomes, one that could cut the treatment time and intense side effects experienced by patients.
By Zulfa Rizqiya, BSJ ’17 | September 16, 2016
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“[The CURE Entrepreneur of the Year Award] is a great recognition of Achilion and the hard work my colleagues put forward into the discovery of odalasvir,” said Deshpande. “But I think the most important part of this recognition is that patients are going to significantly benefit from this drug.” Photo by Patrick Raycraft, MA ’00
Deshpande joined the New Haven, Connecticut-based Achillion in 2001 as vice president of chemistry, quickly assumed more titles, and eventually became chief scientific officer and then president of research and development, before taking the company’s helm in 2013. He led his team to devise a targeted treatment approach by identifying a critical HCV protein as the source causing the spread of hep C. They developed the innovative drug, odalasvir, to inhibit the protein from copying itself.
Deshpande won a 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year Award from CURE, a Connecticut-based bioscience organization, for his drive and ingenuity in developing odalasvir.
Used alongside other medication, the drug shortened treatment time to as little as six weeks. In clinical trials, treatment achieved 100 percent success rate in curing patients. Side effects such as flu-like symptoms and depression borne out of previous hep C treatment options fell away.
Deshpande says that’s good news for the approximately 5 million people in the United States infected with hep C. The virus, which causes severe liver disease, is transmitted by blood transfusion, often through needle sharing during drug use and from tattooing. For the 45 to 48 percent of infected people, hep C disease becomes chronic, resulting in long-term health problems, even death. Achillion’s odalasvir mitigates this damage early in the disease’s life cycle.
Dr. James Gaskell, health commissioner at the Athens City-County Health Department, has seen the number of HCV cases increase in Athens because of heroin. odalasvir offers hope for patients, he said.
Deshpande says his greatest reward is knowing that the new drug will positively affect those suffering from the disease.
“[The CURE Entrepreneur of the Year Award] is a great recognition of Achilion and the hard work my colleagues put forward into the discovery of odalasvir,” said Deshpande. “But I think the most important part of this recognition is that patients are going to significantly benefit from this drug.”
