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NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) on Wednesday said it submitted an application to market in Europe its new drug to treat the HIV infection and its deadly successor AIDS.
The experimental treatment, called atazanavir, is among a class of HIV drugs called protease inhibitors and would compete with medicines such as Merck & Co. Inc.'s (MRK) Crixivan and Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) Viracept.
Bristol-Myers, the world's No. 5 drugmaker, requested that Europe's main medicine regulatory body, the European Medicines Evaluation Agency, approve atazanavir for sale. The drug would offer the convenience of once-daily administration.
Investors have pinned hopes for Bristol-Myers -- which has been racked by generic competition and slowing demand for many of its key products -- on a handful of experimental drugs, including atazanavir. But the company's new hypertension medication, Vanlev, produced disappointing results in March, and a new cancer drug, Erbitux, has been delayed.
Atazanavir is currently in Phase III, or late-stage, clinical development. In April, Bristol-Myers said it planned to submit U.S. marketing applications in the fourth quarter for two of its experimental drugs, including atazanavir.
Patients with HIV and AIDS often take a "cocktail" of two or more medications and can develop a resistance to drugs they have taken for a while, so that new drugs are always needed by health care providers.
[Reuters Limited]
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Last Revised at December 10, 2007 by Lusine Kazoyan, M.D.
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