The HIV field ushered in a strong alliance, Merck and Gilead cooperate to develop a long-term solution

The two major pharmaceutical giants Merck and Gilead announced that they will jointly develop and promote long-acting AIDS (HIV) combination therapies, which will allow patients to replace daily medications with longer intervals.

It is understood that this combination includes lenacapavir (Gilead's capsid inhibitor) and islatravir (Mersk's innovative nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor).

Islatravir (MK-8591) is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor (NRTTI) developed by Merck.

Gilead’s Lenacapavir is a new type of capsid inhibitor that can interrupt the activity of HIV capsid, which surrounds and protects the genetic material and essential enzymes of the virus.

In the past few years, in addition to the cooperation between Merck and Gilead, many large pharmaceutical companies have sought cooperation in the HIV field, and ViiV Healthcare is the result of such cooperation.

In 2018, Merck was approved for two drugs for the treatment of HIV, one is the once-daily triple therapy Delstrigo and a new non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor Pifeltro.

Gilead is a leader in the development of HIV treatment drugs.