Drug makers Bristol-Meyers Squibb Com-pany and Gilead Sciences announced Monday that a pill combining their two HIV treatments provided the equivalent to the two therapies taken separately.

The companies plan to file an application for the combination drug with U.S. regulators in the second quarter of the year, officials said.

The new combination drug will combine Bristol-Meyers' Sustiva with Gilead's Truvada in a one-pill fixed dose, using a process called "bi-layer" technology.