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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Mar 12, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX), completed its acquisition today of ViroChem Pharma Inc., a privately-held company with two investigational HCV polymerase inhibitors in clinical development. ViroChem shareholders received $100 million in cash and approximately 10.7 million shares of Vertex common stock. The shares issued in this transaction are expected to be available for resale upon filing of the registration statement.

The acquisition advances Vertex's strategy to pursue novel combinations of Specifically Targeted Antiviral Therapies for hepatitis C (STAT-Cs) in the treatment of HCV infection. Vertex now owns worldwide rights to the ViroChem HCV drug development portfolio, including VCH-222 and VCH-759, which have demonstrated substantial reductions in plasma HCV RNA when dosed as single agents and have been well tolerated in early clinical studies to date. Vertex expects to begin clinical evaluation of novel combination regimens of its HCV protease inhibitor telaprevir, currently in Phase 3 clinical development, in the second half of 2009.

About Vertex

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a global biotechnology company committed to the discovery and development of breakthrough small molecule drugs for serious diseases. The Company's strategy is to commercialize its products both independently and in collaboration with major pharmaceutical companies. Vertex's product pipeline is focused on viral diseases, cystic fibrosis, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, cancer, and pain. Vertex co-discovered the HIV protease inhibitor, Lexiva, with GlaxoSmithKline.

Lexiva is a registered trademark of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies.

Vertex's press releases are available at www.vrtx.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that the Company expects to begin in the second half of 2009 clinical evaluation of novel combination regimens that would include telaprevir and one of the compounds acquired in the ViroChem transaction, and that the Company expects the shares issued in this transaction will be immediately tradable under a resale registration statement. While the company believes that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are accurate, there are a number of factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the possibility that the outcomes for our planned telaprevir clinical trials and studies may not be favorable or may not support novel combination regimens, that feedback from regulatory authorities may lead to delay in commencement of any planned combination clinical trials, that the Company may not obtain the benefits it expects to realize from the acquisition of ViroChem for a variety of reasons including the possibilities that the Company may not be able to successfully develop combination therapies involving telaprevir and the drug candidates that the Company is acquiring in this transaction and that data from early clinical and nonclinical trials, and in vitro data, regarding VCH-222 and VDH-759 may not be predictive of results that may be obtained from large clinical trials involving VCH-222 and/or VCH-759, that unexpected regulatory or disclosure issues could delay effectiveness of the planned registration statement covering the shares and the other risks listed under Risk Factors in Vertex's annual report and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available through the Company's website at www.vrtx.com. We disclaim any obligation to update the information contained in this press release as new information becomes available.

(VRTX-GEN)

SOURCE: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
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