FDA APPROVES IMPORTANT NEW AIDS DRUG: ISENTRESS

The new medication, also known by its generic name, raltegravir, is the first of what is expected to be a new class of AIDS drugs known as integrase inhibitors

First to benefit from the new medication are thousands of people who have been infected for years and have grown resistant to so many AIDS drugs that they are running out of options.
This is the group that was used to test the new drug in clinical trials. More than 80 percent of those who took Isentress saw the level of virus in their blood drop to barely detectable levels - a sign that the disease is under control.

Patients who are prescribed the drug will take two 400 mg tablets a day, in combination with other AIDS medicines chosen by their physicians.
Isentress is the latest of several AIDS drugs to be approved this year that, in combination, could bolster the immune systems of veteran patients who have built resistance to earlier generation of drugs.

But Isentress won't be cheap. Immediately after receiving FDA approval to market the drug, Merck disclosed that it plans to sell Isentress for $27 a day, or $9,850 per year - making it one of the costlier pills on the market.

Wow,if convert to Malaysia Ringgit, how many Malaysians can afford? Will Ministry of Health support financially to prescribe to HIV patients so that to control the epidemic?? How long for the Drug Control Authority to approve it officially to be available in Malaysia since this is life saving drug??

Anyway, what we can do it here is to practise safe sex; loyal to one partner; don't share needles if you are drug addict. Remember,`prevention is better than cure'.