• Merck & Co. Inc., of Whitehouse Station, N.J., said the FDA granted MK-5172/MK-8742 breakthrough therapy designation for treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infection. MK-5172/MK-8742 is an all-oral combination regimen consisting of MK-5172, an investigational HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitor, and MK-8742, an investigational HCV NS5A replication complex inhibitor. Interim data from an ongoing Phase IIb clinical trial evaluating MK-5172/MK-8742 in genotype 1 infected patients (C-WORTHY Study) is scheduled to be presented at the 64th American Association for the Study of Liver Disease Annual Meeting in November.