Human Genome Sciences Inc.’s hepatitis C drug Albuferon met its primary goal of working as well as a current drug in a late-stage study, but failed to show numerically better efficacy compared to standard-of-care.

The trial, called ACHIEVE 1, compared Albuferon and Switzerland-based Roche’s Pegasys. Patients involved in the study were given either 900-micrograms of Albuferon every two weeks or Pegasys once weekly.

Patients given Albuferon had sustained virologic response (SVR) rates of 48.2 percent, while patients given Pegasys achieved SVR rates of 51.0 percent.

Albuferon was better only because of its biweekly dosing, which Barry Labinger, executive vice president and chief commercial officer, considers “a very big benefit. Over and over and over, we hear if you can give us a drug that does what Pegasys does with half the injections, that’s enough to get leading market share.”

But analysts were very hard to convince that this thing alone would make the drug a leader on the hepatitis C drug market, where it would have to compete with Roche’s Pegasys and Schering-Plough Corp's PegIntron.

“We believe with a numerically inferior sustained virus response rate, Albuferon will have difficulty unseating market leader Pegasys,” said PiperJaffray analyst Edward A. Tenthoff, in a note to investors.

Hepatitis C is a chronic, potentially fatal virus that can cause liver ailments, including cancer and lifer failure. The concern is higher than usual, as many patients who contract the blood-borne hepatitis C are asymptomatic for many years. Early symptoms include jaundice, nausea, and fatigue. The disease is most often transmitted by sharing unclean needles and syringes.

An estimated 150-200 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C. No vaccine against hepatitis C is available.