Early Approval for Abbott AIDS Medicine

(ABBOTT PARK, ILL)The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an early approval of the Abbott Laboratories' AIDS drug Kaletra, a form of protease inhibitor medication that has shown considerable promise in bringing the virus down to undetectable levels. Abbott applied for FDA approval on June 1, 2000 and was not expecting results until later this fall.

Kaletra is a mixture of two drugs, the main one generically called lopinavir and previously called ABT-378 in Abbott clinical labs, the other is ritonavir, already on the market as an AIDS drug under the brand name Norvir. For more information visit www.fda.gov.