Gilead Sciences reports positive data for HIV boosting agent

Gilead Sciences has published encouraging data from a comparative trial of cobicistat, its new pharmacoenhancing agent for HIV therapy.

In a recent phase III trial, the boosting agent was shown to provide comparable efficacy to ritonavir when added to a protease inhibitor treatment regime over a 48-week period.

Ritonavir is currently the only agent used to boost antiretroviral treatment regimens, but cobicistat could soon offer a new option, having been submitted for European and US regulatory review by Gilead.

The drug is being developed in fixed-dose combination regimens in association with Janssen and Bristol-Myers Squibb, while it is also one of the components of Gilead's new single tablet option Quad.

Principal study investigator Dr Joel Gallant, professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, said: "The data demonstrates that cobicistat may be an effective option for boosting the potency of HIV regimens that are based on protease inhibitors."

This comes in the same week that Gilead published positive trial data on elvitegravir, another HIV drug that is also a component of Quad.