February 2005 Cover
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Drug firms Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Gilead Sciences Inc. have announced the formation of a joint venture to manufacture and test the first once-daily pill containing three common AIDS medicines from two different drug classes. The combination pill would contain
BMS's Sustiva with Gilead's replication-blockers Viread and Emtriva.
The best current AIDS treatment requires patients to take two to four pills a day. Earlier HIV drug regimens were vastly more complex, requiring patients to take 25 to 30 pills daily under specific conditions. Missing doses introduced the possibility of mutated,
drug-resistant HIV.
The component drugs are already on the market, so a once-daily combination could be approved and marketed by the second half of 2006, said David Rosen, a BMS spokesperson.
Editor's Note: from the Associated Press
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