Isentress, the new anti-AIDS pill to treat such patients, has received a federal approval on Friday and should be on pharmacy shelves within two weeks.
Manufactured by Merck & Co., the drug, when taken in combination of other drugs can lower the amount of HIV in the blood and help infection-fighting immune cells rebound.
Also known as raltegravir, the drug costs $27 a day or $9,855 a year and should be taken twice a day.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it is the first in a new class of medicines that blocks the third enzyme used to reproduce and infect cells, called integrase.
Currently, there are numerous drugs available in the market that targets two of those enzymes, called protease and reverse transcriptase.
FDA approved the use of Isentress in patients over age 16 whose blood tests show they are resistant to common older medications. Side effects include diarrhea, nausea, headache and itching.
It is the second novel HIV drug to win FDA approval in two months after the approval of Pfizer Inc.'s Selzentry. Selzentry, however works by blocking a passage that is used by HIV to enter white blood cells.
