American pharmaceutical companies Gilead and Merck announced Monday they have partnered to develop a new HIV therapy that could see daily medications replaced by a treatment that can be taken at longer intervals.

The companies aim to combine two of their existing medications to "provide new, meaningful treatment options for people living with HIV," the virus that causes AIDS, the companies said in a statement.

"While daily, single tablet regimens are available for people living with HIV, options that would allow for less frequent, oral dosing or infrequent injections rather than daily dosing have the potential to address preference considerations, as well as issues associated with adherence and privacy," the companies said.

The first clinical trials of the oral version of the new treatment are expected to begin in the second half of the year.

Merck, known as MSD outside the US and Canada, has developed islatravir, which is taken once a month and currently being evaluated as a treatment for HIV infections in combination with other once-daily antiretroviral drugs.

Islatravir also is being evaluated as a preventative for HIV infections if taken on a monthly basis.

Gilead is working on Lenacapavir, which is the subject of several clinical trials, one of which offers it as a subcutaneous injection given every six months for the treatment and prevention of HIV.

Under the terms of the agreement, Gilead will pay 60 percent of the development and commercialization costs, and the two companies initially will share revenues equally from the new therapy, if approved by regulators.

If sales exceed $2 billion a year for an oral treatment or $3.5 billion for an injectable, Gilead will take 65 percent of revenues above that threshold.

About 38 million people were living with HIV worldwide as of the end of 2019, according to the World Health Organization.

jum/vmt/clp/cs/hs

GILEAD SCIENCES

Related Links
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

QR codes, health passports: China's tech arsenal against a pandemic
Beijing (AFP) March 11, 2021
Daily life in China follows a rhythm of digital check-ins, with the QR code - at offices, malls and transport hubs - an integral defence against Covid-19 that helps to track, trace and isolate patients. Now the country where the coronavirus was first detected is launching a digital "health passport" for its 1.4 billion population which it hopes will eventually re-start international travel. Concerns over privacy and data harvesting have for now been overshadowed by China's relative success in ... read more