Fuzeon maker Roche has pulled out of HIV drug research:

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG will suspend its HIV research because none of its pending medicines represent significant improvement over existing drugs, a company spokeswoman said on Friday.

"Research scientists currently working in HIV will be reassigned to other activities," Linda Dyson, a spokeswoman in Roche's U.S. office in New Jersey, said in an e-mail.

Dyson confirmed an e-mail sent on Wednesday to some activists informing them of the decision. In that e-mail, the company said it "decided to refocus our resources within virology on diseases in which we can deliver substantial improvements over existing medications."

Dyson declined to specify how much Roche has been investing in HIV research.

Apparently, Joe @ Joe. My. God. believes that activists are not upset about this, because "the company has been unwilling to discount their products in the manner of other big pharma companies." I work on HIV prevention, so the treatment side of things is not my specialty. But it seems to me that you want as many eyes and brains on this thing as possible...