LONDON (Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC Friday said its HIV drug venture with Pfizer Inc and Shionogi Ltd has now submitted a regulatory application in Europe for a single tablet HIV treatment that combines three separate drugs, three days after it submitted an application to US regulators for the same treatment.
ViiV Healthcare has submitted the application for a single tablet containing dolutegravir, which goes by the brand name Tivicay, in combination with abacavir and lamivudine. It already sells a tablet combining just abacavir and lamivudine in the US and Europe under the brand name Epzicom in the US and Kivexa in the EU.
Clearance for the use of dolutegravir is currently being considered by the European Medicines Agency.
Combination pills are increasingly being developed by HIV drug manufacturers as patients have been proven to stick with a single-pill treatments better than having to take the same drugs as separate pills.
"People living with HIV and their doctors seek to use appropriate treatment options for the individual, while also trying to minimise the number of pills required for effective and acceptable antiretroviral treatment," Dr John Pottage, chief medical officer of ViiV Healthcare said in a statement. "This submission, together with the New Drug Application submitted recently to the US Food and Drug Administration, aims to make a complete dolutegravir-based regimen available for the first time in a single once-daily pill."
Glaxo shares were up 1.1% at 1,615.18 pence Friday afternoon.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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