Merck's Drug for AIDS Virus Faces Review in September

It should be interesting to see how the FDA handles the application of this fantastic new antiviral drug. Some of the reports regarding this drug have been extremely promising.

It's my understanding that Health Canada is trying to speed up the review on this product as well.

From Bloomberg:
Merck & Co.'s experimental HIV/AIDS treatment will be scrutinized by a panel of U.S. regulatory advisers on Sept. 5.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, will review Merck's application to sell the drug, called Isentress, according to a notice posted today on the agency's Web site. The twice-a-day tablets are intended for patients with the human immunodeficiency virus who don't respond to existing antiretroviral therapy.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, is competing with Pfizer Inc. to develop the first new type of medicine in a decade to treat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Thousands of Americans have drug-resistant forms of the infection and could benefit from new therapies, according to doctors. ...more