Merck & Co.’s HIV-fighting drug Isentress has been on the market for adults since October of 2007. Now the FDA is letting Merck market the product to children and teens, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Isentress is what’s known as an “HIV integrase inhibitors,” that “work(s) by interfering with the virus's ability to replicate itself,” the Journal notes. 

U.S. clinical trials were done with the drug on 96 children and teens between the ages of 2 and 18 years old with HIV. It “found that 53% of these patients had an undetectable amount of HIV in their blood after 24 weeks of treatment with the drug,” WSJ adds.

Merck also is joining five other drug manufacturers to provide discounts on HIV drugs to state drug-assistance programs, according to FiercePharma.com. Starting this week, Merck is discounting Isentress through 2013 to help out the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors.

"With the economy the way it is, there are many more people without jobs and many more people who are qualifying for the programs," said Murray Penner, the organization's deputy executive director. "The need has ballooned."

Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim and the Pfizer/GlaxoSmithKline joint venture ViiV Healthcare have all also discounted drugs for the state programs.

Amazon opens Black Friday deals site early, while Walmart offers sneak peak at Black Friday specials on Facebook and its Sams Club unit enhances the holiday-shopping experience.

Apple acknowledges iPhone battery problem.

Sony predicts $1-billion loss.

AOL posts loss despite ad gains.

Diamond Foods punished by investors for accounting delay in purchase of Pringle's from P&G.

Ford launches licensed-products website.

GlaxoSmithKline settles with U.S. over investigations.Continue reading...

BP seeks to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Fox readies launch of Nat Geo Mundo Spanish-language channel.

IBM gets into the pharma business via nanotechnology.

Kraft extends “Real Women of Philadeophia” web series to tout cream cheese.

Mad Men is adding more commercial opportunities.

McDonald's brings Ronald back in new ads, and launches “McJob” marketing campaign as recruitment tool.Continue reading...

American Express fourth quarter profit leaps 49%.

GlaxoSmithKline pulls Levitra advertising to "improve image."

Google and Mozilla launch privacy features.

GroundReport founder Rachel Sterne named NYC's first chief digital officer.

MSNBC's relationship with Keith Olbermann was tense for years, reports the NYT.

Oprah Winfrey reveals on-air she has a half-sister.

Papa John's stunt offers free pizzas if Super Bowl goes into overtime.

Barnes & Noble introduces a color version of its Nook e-reader with Google Android OS.

Disney and Time Warner Cable will experiment with TV Everywhere (Internet TV behind a paywall for TWC subscribers) with the next installment of ESPN's Monday Night Football.

Facebook and MySpace asked by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, to detail how they safeguard user information.

George Foreman expands with Healthy Cooking line.

GlaxoSmithKline agrees to pay $750 million fine for bad products.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt apologizes for Street View privacy flap.Continue reading...

AMD warns of a sales shortfall.

Apple TV divides networks as NBC refuses to play ball.

Avis raises bid for Dollar Thrifty in last-ditch effort to trump Hertz.

Blockbuster is assessing each store as it works through bankruptcy.

Daimler is cutting costs with Euro refinancing scheme.

Disney Interactive head Steve Wadsworth resigns.

GM's IPO hopes are trimmed by the US government.Continue reading...

Twitter fixed a security bug that disabled its website version today, and plans to step up promoted tweets (as only one-fifth of its 160 million registered users follow brands or companies).

Adobe misses earnings forecast on sluggish sales.

AIG nears sale of two units to Prudential.

BlackBerry-maker RIM could unveil its tablet (nickname: the BlackPad) as early as next week.

Clorox unloads its STP and Armor-All brands.

DC Entertainment's non-publishing business is moving to Los Angeles as part of Time Warner shake-up.

Disney former executive assistant pleads guilty to insider trading charges.

GlaxoSmithKline sues Roche, Genentech over cancer drug patent.Continue reading...

The FCC calls off network neutrality talks as Google and Verizon deny a New York Times report that they're in "secret talks" about a unified tiered approach to online bandwidth management, although the FT hears that such an agreement is indeed imminent.

GM dangles a lifetime warranty for its Opel and Vauxhall brands to European car-buyers (the continent's first such offer) — "lifetime" meaning up to 100,000 miles, that is. GM CEO Ed Whitacre, meanwhile, says he welcomes an IPO to shake "Government Motors" nickname while Ford receives a new federal loan guarantee.

Add Lebanon to the list of countries contemplating a BlackBerry blackout over security concerns, with Saudi Arabia's ban taking effect tomorrow — although 11th hour talks are under way. Bloomberg reports that U.S. and Canadian government officials are now involved in Research in Motion's talks with skittish foreign governments, with the BBC noting that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will discuss the BlackoutBerry crisis with the UAE.

BP finished pumping cement into its damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well to seal it off.

News from Chevrolet, Adobe, Pfizer and more after the jump.Continue reading...