No. 7: The most prescribed HIV medications in the world

Nine out of 10 people treated for HIV in the U.S. take one of several drugs discovered at Emory that enables them to battle the virus every day.
 
One of these is Emtriva®, which combined with another drug makes up the medication Truvada®. It’s now being used to prevent HIV infection as well as treat it.
 
The breakthrough discovery was made in the early 1990s by professors Raymond Schinazi and Dennis Liotta and researcher Woo-Baeg Choi. The team discovered compounds that were powerful weapons against the enzyme that copies HIV.
 
In 2005, the royalty interest for Emtriva was purchased for $525 million – at the time, the largest royalty sale in the history of higher education. The “Em” in Emtriva stands for Emory, and the drug is treating thousands of patients outside the U.S. as well.