European Union to Approve One-Pill-a-Day Treatment for HIV Patients

On Monday, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Gilead Sciences Inc. said European regulators have approved their HIV drug Atripla, clearing the once-daily combination treatment for sale in the 27 EU member nations.

Atripla is the first one-pill, once-a-day treatment for HIV/AIDS. It combines the active ingredients of three antiretrovirals: Sustiva, Emtriva, and Viread.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Atripla in July 2006. The once-daily dosing is a vast improvement over earlier AIDS regimens, under which patients had to take some 30 pills a day. The current leading treatment in Europe, Truvada and Sustiva, involves two different pills.

The approval comes at a time when health authorities are warning of a rise in HIV infections in Europe. The rate of new HIV infections in the EU has nearly doubled since 1999, from 28.8 to 57.5 per million inhabitants, according to EuroHIV data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

"We're trying to work with policymakers and opinion leaders in the HIV field to raise awareness that infection rates are increasing in Europe," said Paul Carter, vice president of international commercial operations at Gilead.

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