April 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Merck’s once-daily, oral, combination regimen for HIV infections, the health regulator’s website showed on Tuesday.
The two-drug combination of doravirine and islatravir was approved to replace the current antiretroviral regimen for treating HIV-1 infection in some adults.
While islatravir is an experimental treatment, Merck’s doravirine is already approved and sold in the U.S. under brand name Pifeltro for HIV-1 treatment in combination with other antiretrovirals, and as a single-tablet regimen, Delstrigo.
About 40.8 million people are living with HIV globally, with about 1.3 million new infections occurring annually, according to National Institutes of Health data.
The drugmaker did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Shinjini Ganguli)
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