FDA Approves 4-in-1 HIV Pill

Combines four medicines to combat the virus that causes AIDS.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a new anti-HIV pill that combines four medicines to combat the virus that causes AIDS.

The agency approved Gilead Sciences' Stribild as a once-a-day treatment to control HIV in adults who have not previously been treated for infection.

The pill contains two previously approved antiviral drugs, emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, currently sold as the combination pill Truvada. Those drugs are combined with two new drugs: elvitegravir and cobicistat. Elvitegravir interferes with one of the enzymes that HIV needs to multiply. Cobicistat helps prolong the effect of elvitegravir.