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 Gilead's bictegravir, another so-called integrase inhibitor drug,
delivered 97 percent virus suppression, making it just as effective
as GSK's product, data presented at a medical meeting in Seattle
late on Monday showed.
Importantly, there were no cases of resistance emerging to the new
medicine in the 98-patient Phase II study and no patients
discontinued treatment due to kidney problems, which can be an issue
with HIV treatments.
Potential drug resistance is a key consideration for the new drug
because dolutegravir is valued by doctors for its excellent
resistance profile.
Berenberg analyst Laura Sutcliffe said the results were good news
for Gilead but the data was not yet conclusive, since findings from
larger Phase III tests are due later in the year.
Gilead is pinning its hopes on bictegravir to stay competitive with
GSK and the U.S. company has been testing the new medicine alongside
two older drugs.
GSK, meanwhile, is working on a dolutegravir-based two-drug
treatment regimen for controlling the virus behind AIDS, a
development that marks a departure from conventional triple drug
cocktails.
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Detailed findings from two Phase III trials testing the new two-drug
combination were presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and
Opportunistic Infections in Seattle. GSK already said in December
that these studies were successful.
GSK sells its HIV drugs through its majority-owned ViiV Healthcare
unit, in which Pfizer and Japan's Shionogi hold minority stakes.
GSK shares were 0.6 percent lower by 0830 GMT (3:30 a.m. ET).
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Keith Weir)
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