Truvada: Old HIV treatment only now being recognized as prevention drug

While many populations at risk for developing AIDS will be relieved that Truvada — a combination drug therapy already marketed for HIV treatment — can prevent HIV infection, it would seem that the drug’s potential to prevent the infection has been delayed for quite some time, The New York Times reports. According to a clinical trial published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, prophylactic use of Truvada — an antiretroviral combination pill containing tenofovir and emtricitabine — once a day reduced the incidence of HIV infection in men who have sex with men by 44-90 percent compared with those receiving a placebo (see Dispatch, Nov. 24th). Despite these promising results, Truvada is unlikely to become FDA approved soon because the manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, may be reluctant to apply for approval. The reasons: the company may not want to expose itself to the litigation that can result when healthy patients decide to sue if they become infected while taking the drug — even if they fail to take the drug as directed — or if side-effects occur. Also, Gilead has substantial income from the treatment of known HIV cases with Truvada, although ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross believes the potential return from mass marketing to vulnerable populations seeking HIV protection would be huge. He also notes that the safety of Truvada must be rigorously established, because like every other preventive therapy, it is given to healthy patients.