Antimicrobial & Antiviral

Telaprevir

Telaprevir blocked the protease hepatitis C uses to cut its own proteins apart, and it worked: added to interferon-based treatment it raised cure rates from 44% to 75% in previously untreated genotype 1 patients, which in 2011 was a genuine advance. The price of it was on the label — severe anaemia, and skin reactions that were sometimes serious and sometimes fatal. It has not existed as a product for a decade: the US version was withdrawn in 2014, and the European authorisation was allowed to expire in September 2016 when its holder chose not to renew it, interferon-free regimens having made the trade-off pointless. It is shaped to imitate a peptide but is a small molecule, held in this corpus for reference.

Last updated 12 August 2026

Studied forHepatitis C antiviral research · Sustained virologic response · Protease resistance studies

Evidence on fileFDA-approved · 2 randomised human trials

Strongest sourceTelaprevir for Previously Untreated Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection (New England Journal of Medicine 2011… (randomised human trial)

Mechanism

A peptidomimetic ketoamide that reversibly inhibits the HCV NS3/4A serine protease required to cleave the viral polyprotein.

Regulatory status

Approved by the FDA. Marketed as INCIVEK. Earliest approval 2011-05-23. Application NDA201917.

An approval grades as rung 1 on this site, because 21 CFR 314.126 requires adequate and well-controlled human investigations and one cannot be granted without them. It covers specific indications and doses, though, and does not transfer to other uses of the same molecule.

Reported effects

What sources associate with this compound. Reported categories, not outcomes we have graded — each would need its own citation and rung.

Hepatitis C antiviral research
Sustained virologic response
Protease resistance studies

Dosing on file unverified

750 mg (two 375 mg tablets) orally 3x/day (every 7-9h) with food

Carried from a source that labels it unverified, and reproduced with that label attached. A record of what is reported, not a recommendation. No citation on this page establishes it.

Literature on file 3

human RCT
Telaprevir for Previously Untreated Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection (New England Journal of Medicine 2011, cited 1936x) graded on: names a randomised controlled trial — the indexed publication type — “Randomized Controlled”
human RCT
Telaprevir for Retreatment of HCV Infection (New England Journal of Medicine 2011, cited 1239x) graded on: names a randomised controlled trial — the indexed publication type — “Randomized Controlled”
human RCT
FDA approval NDA201917 graded on: an FDA approval (NDA201917), which requires adequate and well-controlled human investigations — “NDA201917”

Identity

Space-filling 3D model of Telaprevir, carbon grey, nitrogen blue, oxygen red — Built from the SMILES on this record — the atoms and bonds are exact. The shape is **one computed low-energy pose**, not a measured structure: a flexible peptide in solution has no single conformation, and where the SMILES leaves a stereocentre undefined the pose commits to one arbitrarily. The skeletal formula below claims connectivity and nothing more, which is what we actually know.

2D chemical structure of Telaprevir — Built from the SMILES on this record — the atoms and bonds are exact. The shape is **one computed low-energy pose**, not a measured structure: a flexible peptide in solution has no single conformation, and where the SMILES leaves a stereocentre undefined the pose commits to one arbitrarily. The skeletal formula below claims connectivity and nothing more, which is what we actually know.

Molecular weight: 679.8
Molecular formula: C36H53N7O6
CAS number: 402957-28-2
PubChem CID: 3010818
InChI key: BBAWEDCPNXPBQM-GDEBMMAJSA-N
SMILES: CCC[C@@H](C(=O)C(=O)NC1CC1)NC(=O)[C@@H]2[C@H]3CCC[C@H]3CN2C(=O)[C@H](C(C)(C)C)NC(=O)[C@H](C4CCCCC4)NC(=O)C5=NC=CN=C5
InChI: InChI=1S/C36H53N7O6/c1-5-10-25(29(44)34(48)39-23-15-16-23)40-33(47)28-24-14-9-13-22(24)20-43(28)35(49)30(36(2,3)4)42-32(46)27(21-11-7-6-8-12-21)41-31(45)26-19-37-17-18-38-26/h17-19,21-25,27-28,30H,5-16,20H2,1-4H3,(H,39,48)(H,40,47)(H,41,45)(H,42,46)/t22-,24-,25-,27-,28-,30+/m0/s1

Notes unverified prose

FDA-approved (Incivek) 2011; HCV protease inhibitor – peptide-based, included for reference; FDA-approved (Incivek) – peptide-based

Not on file 2

1 of the 8 fields we track hold nothing on this record, and each says why. 1 further absence is named below. A blank field is a bug; a named absence is a finding.

amino-acid sequencenot applicable to this compound
half-lifenothing we hold supplies it

Each field links to every other record missing the same thing. The full ledger holds 765 gaps across 163 records.