The Discovery and Development of Boceprevir: A Novel, First-generation Inhibitor of the Hepatitis C Virus NS3/4A Serine Protease.

"Conflict of interest: AYMH and SV are employees of Merck Research Laboratories, Kenilworth, NJ"

"We thank Dr. Bruce Malcolm for the insightful discussions, Dr. Daria Hazuda for the critical review of the manuscript, and Drs. Charles Lesburg, Zhuyan Guo, Rumin Zhang, and Frederick Lahser for providing the crystal structure diagrams and biochemical results. We also thank colleagues from Schering-Plough and Merck Research Laboratories for generating the data and for their helpful comments. Finally, we thank all the investigators and patients who participated in the clinical development of boceprevir. Medical writing and editorial assistance were provided by Tim Ibbotson, PhD, Santo D'Angelo, PhD, MS, and Bianca Ruzicka, PhD of ApotheCom, Yardley, PA. This assistance was funded by Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ."