Thursday, August 11, 2005—On Tuesday, HIV med maker Gilead Sciencesannounced that its second attempt at the first-ever one-pill-once-a-daytriple combo therapy had failed. The problem? When combining itstwo-in-one Truvada (nukes Emtriva and Viread) with Bristol-MyersSquibb’s non-nuke Sustiva, Gilead says the levels of Sustiva andTruvada in the bloodstream did not match those of the same pills whenswallowed independently of each other simultaneously. “Co-formulatingthese compounds has proven somewhat challenging,” says Gileadpublic-affairs manager James Loduca. Last April, Gilead announced thatthe first effort at a three-in-one had failed for similar reasons.Nonetheless, Gilead is confident that the two drugmakers will succeedin blazing a trail to that elusive one-a-day. They anticipate filingthe unnamed med’s application with the FDA by mid-2006.