Buy Celsentri, finally!

Finally, new HIV treatment - Celsentri (aka Selzentry or Maraviroc) has been approved by the European Commission for use in the European Union.

The drug, generically known as maraviroc, is the first new type of HIV to be introduced in more than ten years.

First discovered at Pfizer's research center in Sandwich, England, Celsentri prevents the HIV virus from entering uninfected cells by blocking its main entry route, instead of fighting the virus inside white blood cells like conventional treatments.

Taken as a pill, it will be used in combination with other antiretroviral drugs in patients infected with a type of HIV virus known as R5. Not all HIV patients have the R5 form of the HIV virus.

Celsentri isn't for newly diagnosed patients, but only for HIV-infected people who are becoming resistant to other treatments.

New York-based Pfizer already markets the drug in the U.S., where it was approved last month, under the brand name Selzentry. Analysts believe the product could generate annual sales of $500 million by 2011.