The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today called on Gilead Sciences and Merck to immediately register and distribute the three-in-one, once daily lifesaving HIV treatment, Atripla, in developing countries.

When Atripla first received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July of 2006, advocates like AHF applauded the production of a single, once-a-day drug as a landmark step in treating HIV. However, since its approval, little progress has been made in expanding the availability of the treatment in the developing world, where only 28% of those in need of treatment were able to access it as of December 2006.

"This treatment is a standard therapy in the United States. It is on the World Health Organization's Essential Medicines List, and is an antiretroviral drug regimen that could greatly benefit patients everywhere while reducing costs in the long term," said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President. "The fact that Gilead and Merck appear to be unable or unwilling to make it available in resource-poor countries is deeply troubling, and causing unnecessary suffering."

While the key value of an all-in-one, one pill per day HIV treatment regimen is the reduced pill burden required for patients, Dr. Homayoon Khanlou, AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Chief of Medicine, says it also makes the treatment more likely to be followed. "With a complete daily treatment regimen in one pill, the advantage goes much further than simply fewer pills and fewer side effects. The ease of treatment results in improved adherence with more patients taking their medication as prescribed, which greatly increases the effectiveness of treatment. This also results in fewer patients developing resistance to the drugs, and from having to move on to more expensive second-line drugs."