Gilead Opens Access To HIV Treatments

Gilead Sciences has expanded access to its HIV medicines through agreements with the Medicines Patent Pool Foundation (MPPF), a nonprofit supported by UNITAIDand the Indian drug firms Hetero Drugs, Matrix Laboratories, Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Strides Arcolab. Both MPPF and the companies gain the right to produce for the developing world three drugs in late-stage clinical trials: elvitegravir, an integrase inhibitor; cobicistat, an antiretroviral boosting agent; and the Quad, which combines four Gilead HIV medicines in a once-daily pill. In 2006, Gilead allowed several manufacturers to make generic versions of the HIV drugs Viread and Truvada.