Viread, Emtriva, Truvada, and now Atripla, for the treatment of HIV. We design HIV medicines with the goal of favorable safety, efficacy and resistance profiles, formulating them into tablets that can be taken once a day. Our products have attained leadership positions in the fight against the growing HIV epidemic. Each drug plays an integral role in the field of combination therapy for HIV treatment, and we continue to secure a large and growing share of the HIV market.
ATRIPLA
In 2004, we established a U.S. joint venture with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) – the first of its kind in the field of HIV medicine – to co-formulate Truvada and efavirenz into a single tablet. The result was Atripla, the first and only complete HAART combination available in the United States as a once-daily single tablet for the treatment of HIV. Atripla exhibited strong uptake after its July 2006 U.S. FDA approval and launch in the United States. To expand the number of patients who could benefit from Atripla, we, together with BMS and Merck, which share rights to efavirenz in Europe, submitted a Marketing Authorisation Application in the European Union in October 2006. Approval is anticipated in the second half of 2007. In addition, we completed a separate agreement with Merck, which holds rights to efavirenz in resource-limited parts of the world, to help ensure access to the medication where the HIV epidemic has hit the hardest.
VIREAD
The foundation of our HIV franchise, Viread, as part of combination therapy or in its molecule form tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (also a component of Truvada and Atripla), continues to have increasing use as a treatment for patients at varying stages of their HIV disease. Currently, more than half of all treated HIV patients in the United States are taking a tenofovir-containing regimen. This year tenofovir surpassed lamivudine as the most widely prescribed HIV molecule in the United States. Worldwide sales of Viread were $689 million in 2006.
TRUVADA
A fixed-dose combination of Viread and Emtriva, Truvada is currently the most commonly prescribed backbone for HIV combination therapy in the United States, accounting for more than half of our HIV franchise sales in 2006. Its growing uptake in Europe, where it is now available in 19 countries, helped contribute to $1.19 billion in total sales in 2006.
