A domestically developed, long-acting injectable HIV drug has been put forward for approval by the China Food and Drug Administration, and will become the first of its kind to be generally available if approved.

Research into the drug now known as Albuvirtide started in 2003. It entered the third and last phase of clinical trials in February 2014.

A 48-week experiment on 208 HIV patients for whom first-line antiretroviral therapy had failed, showed the new drug performing better than others.

"All clinical trials have proven the safety and effectiveness of Albuvirtide, now we're awaiting the approval from authorities," said Wu Hao, head of the infection center at Beijing You'an Hospital.

"The prevailing cocktail therapy could effectively control the virus, but the patients have to take a handful of pills, which may damage their kidney and liver," according to Li Taisheng, an AIDS treatment specialist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

"The latest treatment in Europe and America requires the patient to take only one pill a day, greatly reducing the side-effect," Li added.

Albuvirtide is injected once a week, according to Wu Hao.

Several companies are developing long-acting AIDS drugs, but none has been approved to enter market.

About 15.8 million AIDS patients are receiving anti-viral treatment worldwide, according to the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). In China, 654,000 people now live with HIV/AIDS.

(Source: Xinhua)