FDA Would Approve Truvada to Protect from HIV Infection
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would support the use of Truvada, HIV drug by Gilead Sciences Inc., to protect healthy people from getting AIDS.
The company was already trying hard to market the drug to prevent HIV infection in people who are at high risk of getting the infection. The drug is currently used to treat HIV in combination with supportive drugs. It is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread, and it is in market since 2004 as a treatment for people with HIV infections. In 2010, it was reported that the drug could help people from contracting HIV.
An FDA advisory panel is expected to announce on Thursday to recommend the drug for preventive use. Although FDA has no obligation to follow the advice of its panels, but the organization usually does. FDA has concluded on Tuesday that taking the pill daily could protect users from "infection with a serious and life-threatening illness that requires lifelong treatment."
Truvada would be the first drug approved to prevent from HIV infection. It would be the major breakthrough in the 30-year campaign against the AIDS as no other medicine is still approved to prevent HIV and a vaccine is not considered to be a reality in the near future.
Approximately 1.2 million Americans have HIV infection.
Other drugs in “Pipeline” by Gilead Sciences for HIV/AIDS are Quad Integrase STR (elvitegravir/FTC/TDF/cobicistat), which has been submitted to U.S. and EU approvals, Elvitegravir (integrase inhibitor) and Cobicistat (formerly GS-9350) (PK enhancer), which are in phase-3, and GS-7340 (nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor), which is in phase-2.
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