FDA awards fast-track status to experimental hepatitis C medication.

The AP (5/16) reports, "The Food and Drug Administration awarded fast track status to Achillion's drug candidate ACH-3102. The agency's decision will allow Achillion to file its application for marketing approval piece by piece instead of waiting to collect all the clinical trial data for the drug, and Achillion will be able to consult with the FDA more often as it develops the drug." Achillion also announced that "it started clinical trials of ACH-3102 on Wednesday." It said that it hopes that a combination of its ACH-3102 and ACH-1625 "could be part of a hepatitis C a regimen that could treat the disease without interferon." Reuters (5/16, Venkatesan) reports that ACH-1625 had already received a fast track designation.