(Bangkok Post file photo)LONDON - Three decades after approval of the first-ever AIDS treatment, HIV medicine is seeing a new wave of innovation with scientists reporting positive data on Monday for improved drug cocktails and a novel experimental vaccine. Both bictegravir and dolutegravir are so-called integrase inhibitors, a type of medicine that has proved extremely effective at blocking HIV. For GSK, two-drug cocktails represent the future of HIV treatment, especially for the growing number of older patients who are more vulnerable to side effects from taking multiple medicines. David Redfern, chairman of GSK's majority-owned ViiV Healthcare HIV business, believes one thing is clear: competition is set to intensify. Vaccine neededUltimately, many experts believe a vaccine will be needed to shut down the threat from HIV, although decades of efforts to develop one have so far ended in disappointment.

Source: Bangkok Post July 24, 2017 07:52 UTC