The medication, Truvada, is the first drug shown to protect people from becoming *infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. It is already used to treat HIV-positive *patients.
“New prevention methods are needed in order to have a major impact on the HIV epidemic in this country,” Dr. Debra Birnkrant, director of the division of antiviral products at the FDA, said during a press conference.
Truvada may cost at least $13,900 a year for treatment in the United States.
She said the overall rate of new infections has remained stable, but “we continue to see about 50,000 adults and adolescents diagnosed with new HIV infections each year. *Infection rates among men who have sex with men, particularly among young minority men, have increased significantly.”
Truvada is intended for adults at high risk of contracting HIV, which include sexually active gay men and healthy partners of HIV-infected individuals, whether heterosexual or homosexual.
The FDA decision is supported by several clinical studies, including the one conducted at the Fenway Institute and other sites around the world. The study followed 2,499 HIV-negative men and transgender women who had sex with men, including some who were infected with HIV. After an average of two years, those who were assigned to take Truvada daily — although many failed to follow the daily regimen — had a 44 percent lower risk of acquiring HIV than participants given a placebo.
“Getting people to take pills on a daily basis — people who are healthy — is the challenge,” said Mayer, who was the principal investigator of the Fenway research project.
Birnkrant echoed that concern, saying adherence to the daily regimen was low, around 30 percent.
If participants stuck with the regimen and had high levels of the drug in their blood, Mayer said, they were less likely to get HIV, with protection rates approaching 90 percent.
Using the Transtheoretical Model or Protection Motivation Theory to develop adherence programs could prove to be effective. However, I believe the most pressing matter is making the medication available to all HIV-seropositive persons and not just those who can afford it.
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"Everything anybody ever valued or struggled for... it's all a monstrous, demented gag! So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?"
From what I understand, usually when people go off their prescribed medications it's either a matter of cost or side effect. They didn't mention the side effects, but HIV regimes can be just brutal.
Will always be a business. The same scientists providing the cure to diseases are also the ones creating new ones.
But first generation of new meds treatments are always more expensive. Eventually Europe will get something cheaper, and if it's a cure, you can bet there will be pressure to get it spread around the world.
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Call Kenny Loggins. Cause you're in the Danger Zone.
HIV prevention pill approved by the FDA
HIV prevention pill approved by the FDA
is one of the rare people who know how this business works even years after this interview
