FDA approves 1-a-day AIDS pill  E-mail

'Holy grail' of HIV drug cocktails may be available in US next week

Some patients infected with HIV could start taking a one-a-day AIDS “cocktail” as early as next week.

The drug is called Atripla and it is a combination of drugs already on the market: Sustiva, which is made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Truvada, a drug made by Gilead Sciencs.

The drug is expected to be a powerful weapon in the global AIDS fight as simplified drug regimens are easier to stick to and therefore, more effective and cheaper.  This will make it easier to dispense in countries hardest hit by HIV.

The alliance of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead is the first of it’s kind in the field of HIV/AIDS.  The price of the new drug will be the sum of the components or about $1,100 for a month’s supply.

Physicians will need to be careful because 10 percent of newly infected individuals have a strain of the virus that is resistant to one of the drugs.

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