Glaxo, Gilead, Merck part of team to fight HIV
Tuesday March 14, 2:06 pm ET
GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead Sciences Inc., and Merck & Co. have joined an international partnership to increase the number of HIV drugs available to children in Third World countries.
First Lady Laura Bush on Monday announced a collaborative effort on the part of the U.S. government, pharmaceutical companies and the United Nations to maximize the use of pediatric HIV drugs currently available and to speed up the development of new treatments.
The project will be part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and will attempt to identify obstacles that prevent or slow the distribution of HIV drugs to children in developing countries.
Gilead and Merck, which have Triangle operations, and Glaxo, which has co-U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, join a number of large pharmaceutical companies in the initiative, including Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Pfizer. Generic drug makers involved in the project include Aspen Pharmacare, Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla, Emcure and Ranbaxy.
Glaxo is working to develop a scored tablet form - or tablets that can be divided into smaller, uniform doses - of its anti-HIV treatments Epivir, Ziagen and Combivir.
Officials at the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund claim that access to tablet forms of HIV drugs could be easier to store and distribute in Third World countries and could simplify the process of administering the drugs.
California-based Gilead operates an office in Durham, and Merck, which is based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., has plans to construct a $300 million vaccine plant in Durham that is expected to employ about 200 workers.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK - News) employs about 5,600 Triangle workers.
