Glaxosmithkline administered some positive news to investors and patients regarding the eagerly-awaited regulatory approval for an HIV treatment that could mark a shift in the treatment of the virus (Alex Ralph writes).
ViiV Healthcare, Glaxo’s HIV joint venture, received approval from America’s Food and Drug Administration, the industry regulator, for the first single-tablet, two-drug regimen for patients not currently being treated.
The approval for Dovato, as the once-daily pill will be marketed, combines dolutegravir and lamivudine and is designed to allow patients, who are living longer, to reduce the number of medicines they take, typically three, and therefore to limit the side-effects they suffer.
The drug was one of three that Emma Walmsley, 49, has focused on since she became group chief executive in April