Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Gilead Sciences, Inc. recently announced that Health Canada has approved ATRIPLA® (efavirenz 600 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults. With this Notice of Compliance, ATRIPLA becomes the first once-daily single tablet regimen for HIV approved in Canada for use as a stand-alone therapy or in combination with other antiretrovirals. ATRIPLA combines SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, and Truvada® (emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), manufactured by Gilead Sciences. Truvada itself is a fixed-dose product that contains two of Gilead’s anti-HIV medications, Viread® (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) and Emtriva® (emtricitabine), in a single once-daily tablet for use as part of combination therapy. All three medicines work by blocking reverse transcriptase, an enzyme necessary for HIV replication. ATRIPLA was developed through a joint venture partnership between Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Gilead Sciences. The product was approved by the FDA in July 2006 and has since become the most-prescribed treatment regimen for patients starting HIV therapy in the United States. In Canada, approximately 60,000 people are living with HIV, and around 2,500 new HIV diagnoses are reported each year.
