Outside the Beltway

Three-in-One AIDS Drug Approved

Alex Knapp · Friday, July 14, 2006 · 4 comments

The FDA has approved Atripla, an HIV medication that needs only be taken once a day.

A once-a-day HIV treatment combining three drugs in one pill, has been licensed for the first time by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Atripla, made by Bristol-Myers-Squibb and Gilead Sciences, contains efavirenz, tenofovir and emtricitabine got fast-track approval.

[…]

The number of pills people with HIV have to take each day has been reduced in recent years.

But making it as easy as possible for people to stick to their drug regimen is important; both for the patient themselves, and to prevent the emergence of drug-resistant strains of the virus which can develop when people fail to take all their medication.

This is definitely good news for HIV sufferers. In particular, this is great news for HIV sufferers who live in poorer countries. One of the biggest problems with controlling HIV in the developing world is that the multi-pill drug regimen is difficult for people to keep up on. One pill daily could remarkably alleviate suffering.

And although the article doesn’t mention it, the development of this drug has no doubt sparked a great deal of confusion and lamentation among those who believe that AIDS is “God’s punishment” for sin. These people must be asking themselves why, in this era of ever-improving AIDS medications, God keeps letting them down.