Gilead Sciences Inc said its elvitegravir, a component of the company’s important four-drug Quad HIV treatment currently awaiting an approval decision, demonstrated similar efficacy and tolerability to Isentress in difficult-to-treat patients. In the two-year late-stage clinical trial, elvitegravir met the primary clinical goal of being “non-inferior” to Merck and Co’s Isentress, researchers said. “As patients are living with HIV longer, there is a continued need for new treatment options -- particularly those that are effective against strains of the virus that have developed resistance to currently available therapies,” Dr. Richard Elion, the study’s lead investigator, said in a statement.
