Business
Gilead and Merck Announce Agreement to Jointly Develop and Commercialize Long-Acting, Investigational Treatment Combinations of Lenacapavir and Islatravir in HIV
– Collaboration to Focus on Oral and Injectable Formulations of Lenacapavir and Islatravir – – Agreement Brings Together Potentially Complementary Medicines
About this update from Gilead Sciences, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n– Collaboration to Focus on Oral and Injectable Formulations of Lenacapavir and Islatravir – \n\n– Agreement Brings Together Potentially Complementary Medicines in Late-Stage Development with the Goal to Provide Innovative, Long-Acting Treatments in HIV – \n\n FOSTER CITY, Calif. & KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nGilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) and Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that they have entered into an agreement to co-develop and co-commercialize long-acting treatments in HIV that combine Gilead’s investigational capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir, and Merck’s investigational nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor, islatravir, into a two-drug regimen with the potential to provide new, meaningful treatment options for people living with HIV.\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210315005226/en/\nIslatravir and lenacapavir are both potentially first-in-class medicines in late-stage clinical trials, with significant clinical data generated to date. Both medicines have long half-lives and have demonstrated activity at low dosages in clinical studies, which support development as an investigational combination regimen with long-acting formulations, both oral and injectable.\n\nThe first clinical studies of the oral combination are expected to begin in the second half of 2021. Under the terms of the agreement, Gilead and Merck will work as partners, sharing operational responsibilities, as well as development, commercialization and marketing costs, and any future revenues.\n\nMerck and Gilead seek to build on their legacies of transforming HIV care by focusing on long-acting therapies, which may represent a meaningful innovation in HIV drug development. While daily, single tablet regimens are available for people living with HIV, options that would allow for less frequent, oral dosing or infrequent injections rather than daily dosing have the potential to address preference considerations, as well as issues associated with adherence and privacy.\n\nAs the field of HIV treatment evolves, long-acting therapies may provide additional options for people living with HIV and their physicians that will help continue to put the needs of individuals at the center of their own care.\n\n“...