Posts
A study of HIV-negative heterosexuals who followed
instructions for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) therapy indicated that PrEP
was successful in preventing HIV. The researchers studied 1,147 HIV-negative
individuals in long-term stable heterosexual relationships (average length of
relationship was 8.5 years) with HIV-infected partners. Participants were from
three Ugandan sites of the Partners PrEP study, which provided them with either
Viread (tenofovir) or Truvada (tenofovir/emtricitabine). The group had six
months of follow up left in the trial, had a median age of 34 years, and was 53
percent male.
Researchers tracked PrEP adherence by electronic pill bottle
monitoring and unannounced home visits to count pills. Participants received
counseling if adherence dropped below 80 percent.
Study participants had exceptional adherence levels, with an
average of 99 percent for in-home pill counts and 97 percent for electronic
monitoring. Of 404 individuals who received placebo, 14 were infected with HIV
whereas of the 750 individuals who received PrEP, none was infected.
Researchers concluded that PreP could be very effective in
preventing HIV transmission when recipients maintained their daily dosing
schedule.
The full report, “Adherence to Antiretroviral Prophylaxis
for HIV Prevention: A Substudy Cohort Within a Clinical Trial of Serodiscordant
Couples in East Africa,” was published in the journal PLOS Medicine
(2013;doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001511).
