The effectiveness of the only preventive HIV medication has been confirmed
Sofya Lopaeva, Vademecum Gilead Sciences' Truvada drug is approved in the USA for pre-infectious HIV prevention. Previously, the drug had demonstrated effectiveness in controlled clinical trials, but it remained unclear whether it would be effective in real conditions.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Truvada can reduce the risk of HIV infection by 92%. The drug does not protect against other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
The study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases (Volk et al., No New HIV Infections with Increasing Use of HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis in a Clinical Practice Setting), involved 657 people aged 20 to 68 who took Truvada from 2012 to 2015. Most of them were homosexuals and bisexuals, that is, they were at an increased risk of HIV infection. As a result of taking the drug, none of the study participants became infected with the immunodeficiency virus, but half of the volunteers were found to have new STDs. A large number of STD cases may be associated with a high degree of detectability, although there is no confirmation of this.
The second study on Truvada was published in the Lancet (Sheena McCormack et al., Pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent the acquisition of HIV-1 infection (PROUD): effectiveness results from the pilot phase of a pragmatic open-label randomized trial). It was attended by 544 residents of the UK. It was found that among homosexuals who took the drug, there were much fewer new cases of HIV infection than in the control group. During the year, one or two new cases of HIV infection per 100 people were recorded in the group undergoing Truvada prophylaxis. Among the participants who postponed taking the medication for a year, nine new HIV cases per 100 people were registered. Thus, the drug reduced the level of infection with the immunodeficiency virus by 86%.
In 2014, French scientists in another clinical study of Truvada found that the highest effectiveness of the drug is observed when it is taken during sexual intercourse. In general, for the prevention of HIV infection, Truvada is recommended to take one tablet daily.
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16.09.2015