Adults who do not have HIV but are at risk of getting the disease will now be able to take a drug to reduce their chance of getting infected. For the first time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a drug for this use on Monday.

The drug is Truvada, an antiretroviral medication made by Gilead Sciences, Inc., which was already approved by the FDA in 2004 to help control HIV infection.

Truvada is a combination of two HIV medications - emtricitabine (Emtriva) and tenofovir (Viread) - into one pill that is taken once a day. As a treatment for HIV, it is always used in combination with other HIV drugs.

Recent studiesshowed pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP can reduce transmission of the virus significantly–up to 96% - when uninfected partners of people infected with HIV took Truvada.

Dr. Debra Birnkrant, M.D., director of the Division of Antiviral Products, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA stressed Truvada alone should not be used to prevent HIV infection. It should be used in combination with other safe sex practices.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/16/fda-approves-truvada-for-prevention-of-hivaids/?hpt=hp_t2

I wonder how expensive it will be........

!4,000 US per year.

!4,000 US per year.

Celibacy would be the better choice.

From what CNN said, it is 96% effective. If that number is correct, that is pretty fucking amazing!

This is an incredibly welcome advance.

Has there been any reporting (or any research) into whether, and if so how long until, the HIV family may mutate so as to render this therapy less effective or ineffective against those new strains?

From what CNN said, it is 96% effective. If that number is correct, that is pretty fucking amazing!

Oz, I didn't see that number in the article or the video - they quoted 44-73% reductions in infection in the 3 studies.