Most HIV patients have no options in regard to how they must consume their medication.  The general rule is that each day they must take a pill that has three or four diverse tablets. This is a burden especially to older people who are already treating other conditions the likes of diabetes and arthritis. However, GlaxoSmithKline plc (ADR)(NYSE:GSK) may have a solution into this.

The renowned drug maker says that its new HIV treatment, which is a two-drug combination, is good enough to take away this burden. Tivicay and Edurant, which are prepared by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), will have patients take a lesser amount of medicine than currently.  GSK further claims that unlike existing therapies, the new treatment will cause little or no damage and be less of a hassle.

GSK is now seeking the approval of the two-drug cocktail

Data from a Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle revealed that 95% of patients who switched over to the new cocktail had their virus restrained to unnoticeable levels. GSK is optimistic that it will gain the approval of the two-drug regimen in the US and Europe before the first half of the year ends.

Chief executive of Viiv, Dominique Limet says, “We asked if there was a way to reduce the number of drugs because it is less harmful and less hassle. It is less risky for the long term because there is less toxicity with fewer drugs.”  Viiv, which is owned by GSK as a joint venture and it, is majorly focused on HIV.

But the success of Tivicay is a threat to other blockbusters

GSK’s new development is timely given the increasing innovation in the arena of HIV. Apart from the two-drug cocktail, the company is also testing the effectiveness of an integrase inhibitor, which can be administered just once a month to HIV patients.

All the above has caused some bit of panic for other drugmakers, one of them being Gilead. Meanwhile, GSK’s stock closed at $39.99 a fall of $0.29 or 0.72%