The European Medicines Agency approved ViiV Healthcare’s HIV medication Tivicay. The joint venture—a partnership among GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Shionogi—scored an FDA approval in August, and although the drug could provide competition for Gilead’s Atripla, HIV’s ability to morph means a variety of treatments may provide more fall-back options for patients as opposed to bumping a medication from the list of desirable choices.
Tivicay (dolutegravir), can be used for both HIV patients who have never taken any medication to combat the virus and for those who have already tried other therapies.
“HIV treatment is not a question of “one-size fits all”—especially now that treatment is something that patients will live with for many years,” said Dr. John Pottage, chief medical officer, ViiV Healthcare, said in a statement. “We continue to find measurable clinical differences among the treatments now available for use in combination therapy to combat HIV. Using the clinical data for Tivicay, doctors and people living with HIV can fully consider the effectiveness against the virus and the side effect profile that Tivicay may bring.”
