ViiV Healthcare
Encyclopedia
ViiV Healthcare is a pharmaceutical company specializing in the development of therapies for HIV
that was created as a joint venture by Pfizer
and GlaxoSmithKline
in November 2009 with both companies transferring their HIV assets to the new company. 85% of the company is owned by GlaxoSmithKline with the remaining 15% owned by Pfizer. This ownership structure may change depending upon the achievement of certain milestones.
ViiV Healthcare's products have a market share of approximately 19 percent of the global HIV market, which makes it the second largest health care company, following after Gilead Sciences
, that is working on the treatment of HIV.
ViiV Healthcare's headquarters are in Brentford in the United Kingdom and it has sites in a number of other countries including; the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Spain and Switzerland.
The company currently markets 10 products:
The company has also granted voluntary licenses to eight generics companies to enable the low cost manufacture and sale of generic versions of the company's products in specific countries and/or regions.
which had suspicions about the motives behind Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline's desire to form the new company. The group's concerns centered on the possibility that the two pharmaceutical companies were using ViiV Healthcare as a way to get out of a field of research that has not been particularly commercially successful.
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
that was created as a joint venture by Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
and GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
in November 2009 with both companies transferring their HIV assets to the new company. 85% of the company is owned by GlaxoSmithKline with the remaining 15% owned by Pfizer. This ownership structure may change depending upon the achievement of certain milestones.
ViiV Healthcare's products have a market share of approximately 19 percent of the global HIV market, which makes it the second largest health care company, following after Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics. For many years since the company was founded, the company concentrated primarily on antiviral drugs to treat patients infected with HIV, hepatitis B or influenza. In 2006, Gilead acquired two...
, that is working on the treatment of HIV.
ViiV Healthcare's headquarters are in Brentford in the United Kingdom and it has sites in a number of other countries including; the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Spain and Switzerland.
The company currently markets 10 products:
- CombivirCombivirLamivudine/zidovudine is a pharmaceutical treatment for HIV infection. It is a fixed dose combination of two antiretroviral drugs, lamivudine and zidovudine...
- Epivir
- EpzicomEpzicomAbacavir/lamivudine is a combination drug for the treatment of HIV infection. It is marketed as Kivexa in most countries except for the United States, where it is branded as Epzicom...
- Lexiva
- Rescriptor
- Retrovir
- Selzentry
- TrizivirTrizivirAbacavir/lamivudine/zidovudine is a pharmaceutical treatment for HIV infection. It is a fixed dose combination of three reverse transcriptase inhibitors patented by GlaxoSmithKline and now marketed by its joint venture with Pfizer, ViiV Healthcare:*abacavir *lamivudine *zidovudine It is indicated...
- Viracept
- Ziagen
Treatment access programs
ViiV Healthcare has stated that it will continue the not-for-profit pricing schemes that Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline had been involved in prior to the setting up of the company. This supplies all of its therapies at cost price to 64 countries.The company has also granted voluntary licenses to eight generics companies to enable the low cost manufacture and sale of generic versions of the company's products in specific countries and/or regions.
Criticisms
The foundation of ViiV Healthcare has been criticized by Treatment Action GroupTreatment Action Group
Treatment Action Group is a US-based HIV/AIDS activist organization formed in 1991 involved with worldwide efforts to increase research on treatments for HIV and for deadly co-infections that affect people with HIV, such as hepatitis C and tuberculosis...
which had suspicions about the motives behind Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline's desire to form the new company. The group's concerns centered on the possibility that the two pharmaceutical companies were using ViiV Healthcare as a way to get out of a field of research that has not been particularly commercially successful.