Truvada is taken as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) measure to reduce the risk of sexually-acquired HIV type 1 (HIV-1) infection in adults at high risk.
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A trial named ANRS IPERGAY was conducted, wherein gay and bisexual men were randomly given assigned to have Truvada “as needed” instead of every day intake or an inactive dummy pill. The group taking Truvada had an 86 percent reduction in new HIV infections, compared to people taking the placebo. Following the trial’s end, all of the trial participants were given Truvada.
Dr. Jean-Michel Molina of Hospital Saint-Louis in Paris, a lead researcher in the study, told Reuters that the results were awesome.
During the trial, the participants were asked to take two Truvada pills 24 hours before sex. Another tablet should be taken 24 hours after the deed is done and one more will be taken 48 hours after sex. If the participants engaged in continuous sexual activity, they were to take a pill each day and a pill for the next two days after last having sex.
In the trial’s first part, there were 6.6 new infections yearly among every 100 people consuming the dummy pill, in comparison to just 0.91 fresh infections annually among every 100 people using PrEP. The person had not been taking PrEP in months and no levels of the drug were detected in his blood upon diagnosis.
“In France today, two thirds of people on PrEP use it on demand”, said Molina. “I think it is an interesting alternative for people who did not want to commit to a daily pill”, he said.
The findings only apply to men who have sex with men, however. The company added that during the trials of Truvada for PrEP, the most commonly indicated side effects witnessed were headache, stomach discomfort and weight loss.
However, the researchers also noted a significant drop in condom use among the participants.
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“The oral drug should be used in combination with condoms as part of an HIV prevention strategy”. “This means that there are still large numbers of children with HIV, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, who are vulnerable to opportunistic and other infections diseases such as TB, bacterial pneumonia and diarrhea”.
