But Vertex might have to share a bit of the limelight with Romark Laboratories , a tiny privately held company that already sells a drug called Alinia that is used to treat diarrhea caused by certain parasites but that suddenly is emerging as a potential treatment for hepatitis C. In a presentation that has escaped the attention of Wall Street , though it is to be made at the same meeting , researchers are to report that Alinia helped cure as many as 79 percent of hepatitis C patients , although they had a form of the virus that might be slightly easier to treat than the type Vertex took on .