Once-daily Pill Could Simplify HIV Treatment

　　Bristol-Myers Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences have combined many HIV drugs into a single pill Sometimes the best medicine is more than one kind of medicine. Malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS,2 for example, are all treated with combinations of drugs. But that can mean a lot of pills to take. It would be simpler if drug companies combined all the medicines into a single pill, taken just once a day.

　　Now, two companies say they have done that for people just starting treatment for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The companies are Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences. They have developed a single pill that combines three drugs currently on the market.3 Bristol-Myers Squibb sells one of them under the name of Sustiva.4 Gilead combined the others, Emtriva and Viread, into a single pill in two thousand four.

　　Combining drugs involves more than technical issues. It also involves issues of competition if the drugs are made by different companies. The new once-daily pill is the result of what is described as the first joint venture agreement of its kind in the treatment of HIV

　　In January the New England Journal of Medicine5 published a study of the new pill. Researchers compared its effectiveness to6 that of the widely used combination of Sustiva and Combivir. Combivir contains two drugs, AZT7 and 3TC.8 The researchers say that after one year of treatment, the new pill suppressed HIV levels in more patients and with fewer side effects.9 Gilead paid for the study. Professor Joel Gallant at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, led the research. He is a paid adviser to Gilead and Bristol-Meyers Squibb as well as the maker of Combivir, GlaxoSmithKline.

　　Glaxo Smith Kline reacted to the findings by saying that a single study is of limited value. It says the effectiveness of Combivir has been shown in each of more than fifty studies.

　　The price of the new once-daily pill has not been announced. But Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb say they will provide it at reduced cost to developing countries. They plan in the next few months to ask the United States Food and Drug Administration10 to approve the new pill.

　　There are limits to who could take it because of the different drugs it contains. For example, pregnant women are told not to take Sustiva because of the risk of birth disorders.11 Experts say more than forty million people around the world are living with HIV

　　译文：

　　一天服用一次的药丸可以简化HIV病毒治疗

　　Bristol—Myers Squibb公司和Gilead Sciences公司已经把多种治疗艾滋病病毒的药品合成为一种药丸。有的时候，最好的药品是多种药品的合成。例如疟疾，结核病，艾滋病都是通过多种药品治疗的，那就意味着要服用很多药丸。如果药品公司把所有的药品合成为一种药丸，一天只服用一次，一切就简单多了。

　　现在，两家公司说他们已为那些刚接受艾滋病病毒(导致艾滋病)治疗的人们合成了这样一种药丸。这两家公司分别是Bristol—Myers Squibb公司和Gilead Sciences公司。他们研发了一种由目前市面上的三种药品合成的药丸。Bristol—Myers Squibb公司出售其中一种名为Sustiva的药品，Gilead Sciences公司在2004年把其他两种，Emtriva和Viread合成为一种单片。

　　合成药品不仅仅是一个技术问题，当药品由不同药厂制造时，它也是一个竞争问题。这种新的一天只服一次的药丸是被称为对抗HIV病毒的过程中第一个联合项目协议的产物。

　　在一月份，《新英格兰医药杂志》发表了一项关于新药丸的研究。研究者把它的效果与广泛使用的Sustiva和Combivir的合成品比较，Combivir含有两种药物，叠氨胸苷和拉夫米定。研究人员说经过一年的治疗，这种新药可以抑制更多病人的HIV水平，副作用也更少。这项研究是由Gilead Sciences公司资助的，并由在马里兰州巴摩尔的约翰·霍普金斯医学院Joel Gallant教授率领。他是Bristol—Myers Squibb公司和Gilead Sciences公司雇用的顾问，也是Glaxo Smith Kline公司的Combivir的制造者。

　　对于这个研究结果，Glaxo Smith Kline认为单个的研究是没有多大价值的，它说Combivir的效果已经在超过五十个的研究中表现出来了。

　　这种一天一次的药丸的价格尚未公布。但是Gilead和Bristol—Myers Squibb都宣称他们将对发展中国家减价提供该药品。他们计划在未来几个月里向美国食品与药品管理局申请批准此药品。

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（责任编辑：何莹莹）