6____, Emtriva and Viread, into a single pill in two thousand four. Combining drugs involves more than ____7____ issues. It also involves issues of competition ____8____ the drugs are made by different companies. The new once-daily pill is the result of ____9____ is described as the first joint venture agreement of its kind in the treatment of H.I.V. In January the New England Journal of Medicine5 published a study of the new pill. Researchers compared its ____10____ to6 that of the widely used combination of Sustiva and Combivir. Combivir ____11____ two drugs, AZT7 and 3TC.8 The researchers say that after one year of treatment, the new pill suppressed H.I.V. levels in more patients and with ____12____ side effects.9 Gilead paid for the study. Professor Joel Gallant at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, led the research. He is a paid adviser to Gilead and Bristol-Meyers Squibb as well as the maker of Combivir, GlaxoSmithKline. Glaxo Smith Kline reacted ____13____ the findings by saying that a single study is of limited value. It says the effectiveness of Combivir has been shown in each of more than fifty studies. The price of the new once-daily pill has not been announced. But Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb say they will provide it at reduced cost to developing countries. They plan in the next few months to ask the United States Food and Drug Administration10 to ____14____ the new pill. There are limits to who could take it because of the different drugs it contains. For example, ____15____ women are told not to take Sustiva because of the risk of birth disorders.11 Experts say more than forty million people around the world are living with H.I.V.
