Avexa (ASX: AVX) has announced plans to collaborate with Chinese pharmaceutical company TargetDrug on its hepatitis C virus (HCV) program.

Avexa is a Melbourne-based biotechnology company which is searching for new treatments for HCV. In this second stage of its research, the company will attempt to develop new methods to inhibit HCV replication.

Datamonitor estimates the already lucrative HCV market will grow to $4.4 billion by 2010.

Avexa also announced that the first of its Phase III studies of apricitabine for drug-resistant HIV is progressing well, with the first component of recruitment due to be completed in the third quarter of this year.