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AIDS advocates are divided about
whether the potential approval of the first pill to prevent HIV infection will
advance public health efforts to curb the epidemic.
The Food and Drug Administration is
considering whether to approve Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Truvada for groups at
high risk of HIV infection. A study cited by FDA shows it can reduce the risk
of HIV by up to 94 percent for people who took the pill as prescribed. However,
other trials indicated just 10 percent of participants adhered to prescribing
instructions, and one study was halted after no benefit was seen. The
$14,000-a-year drug is already approved for treating HIV infection.
“Among our own patients who are
HIV-positive, we have difficulty getting them to adhere, let alone people who
don’t have the disease,” said AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael
Weinstein. AHF provides medical care for 130,000 patients worldwide.
Some advocates worry Truvada’s
approval could encourage unprotected sex. “If you have this new option, would
you be riskier? There is no evidence to show that might be the case, but that
doesn’t mean it’s not a concern,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of
AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention.
James Loduca, spokesperson for the
San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said approving Truvada as a pre-exposure
prophylaxis would help certain people avoid infection during particular times
in their lives. “We don’t think PrEP is a lifetime prevention tool,” he said.
“It would be used in a targeted way for specific population and in relatively
short periods of time.”
“If deployed correctly and
efficiently, it could make a big dent in the epidemic in the US,” said Howard
Jaffe, president and chair of the Gilead Foundation.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
