F.D.A. Approves Once-a-Day Pill for H.I.V.

[xchrom]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/business/fda-approves-once-a-day-pill-for-hiv.html?ref=business

The Food and Drug Administration approved a new once-a-day H.I.V. treatment from Gilead Sciences that contains four different drugs in one pill.

But the price Gilead plans to charge for the new drug — about $28,500 a year — was criticized as excessive by one AIDS activist, who said it would put additional pressure on the already strained public health programs that pay for the majority of H.I.V. medications.

“That’s shockingly irresponsible,” said the activist, Michael Weinstein, the president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which treats more than 100,000 infected individuals around the world. “It’s just unsustainable at these levels.”

Gilead said the price was in line with that of some other regimens for treating H.I.V.