Truvada can protect against HIV infection, according to the latest study

New study: drug protects against HIV infection
A new study from the US shows that Truvada, which was approved three years ago, can protect against HIV infection. However, about half of the participants became infected with another sexually transmitted disease. The remedy has been criticized for years.

Protect endangered people from HIV
About three years ago, a pill was approved in the US to protect against HIV and AIDS. However, the prevention pill Truvada remained controversial even after approval. For example, experts have criticized the fact that users could be insecure when taking such medicines. In addition, doctors expressed the concern that the HI virus could develop resistance to Truvada. The criticism should continue to exist, even if another study shows that Truvada can protect particularly vulnerable people from HIV infection.

"Very reliable data"
As employees of the private health insurance company Kaiser Permanente report in the journal "Clinical Infectious Diseases", not one of the 657 study participants who would have been taking the drug for at least two years had AIDS. According to a news agency dpa, epidemiologist Jonathan Volk, who led the investigation, said, "These are very reliable data." He continued, "This shows us that the drugs themselves act in high-risk groups."

Animated to renounce "Safer Sex"
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a formal recommendation for Truvada to prevent HIV and AIDS for certain vulnerable groups. According to the study, people who have HIV-infected partners or who share drug-injection materials should first of all take the anti-AIDS pill. Even then skeptics criticized that the means to renounce "safe sex" animate and thus open the door to other sexually transmitted diseases. And that also seems to have been proven in the study.

Infections with other venereal diseases are rising
According to a report in the New York Times, the study participants were almost exclusively homosexual men who had used condoms less often because of Truvada. Although it was reported that in this group actually no HIV infection, but the infections with other sexually transmitted diseases increased. As the newspaper reported, 84 percent of the 657 subjects had indicated to have changing sexual partners. About half of them had been infected with sexually transmitted diseases during the period of the investigation.

Drug costs around 15,000 euros a year
Another problem that experts have already addressed when the controversial HIV drug was approved is the price. In the US, a monthly dose costs over $ 1,400, the equivalent of about € 1,250. In addition, the previous efforts of the international community in the fight against AIDS in recent years, even without such preparations quite effective. Just a few months ago, the UN announced a turnaround and reported 40 percent fewer HIV deaths worldwide. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in publishing the new figures that the next step must be the "ambitious but realistic" goal of ending the epidemic by 2030. (Ad)