Can a Pill a Day Prevent HIV?

What if those most at risk for HIV could take a pill that would reduce the risk of infection? The American Foundation for AIDS Research’s public policy office brought together a panel of experts to discuss the implications of just such a scenario at a recent Congressional briefing in Washington, D.C., on December 4. “We are fighting an uphill battle, and we must vigorously pursue new strategies,” said Richard Wolitski, acting director of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For every person on antiretroviral therapy, 2.5 people are newly infected with HIV, according to Wolitski. Every day there are 7,400 new infections worldwide; in the United States there is a new HIV infection every 9.5 minutes. “At this point in time, we do not have the resources to bring this epidemic under control,” said panelist Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. “Therefore we must turn to novel prevention strategies,” such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP.The experimental technique involves administering anti-HIV drugs before possible exposure to HIV in the hope that they will lower the chances of infection among those at high risk -- a proposition currently being tested in ongoing clinical trials overseen by Dieffenbach in Botswana, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, and the United States. Initial results are expected within the next 12 to 18 months. While the viability of PrEP is unclear, the concept is not an unusual one: People use statins to prevent heart disease, tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer in high-risk individuals, and birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancy. And in the field of HIV health care, “antiretrovirals have drastically reduced mother-to-child transmissions. So can these drugs now be used to prevent HIV in high-risk populations?” asked amfAR senior policy and medical adviser Susan J. Blumenthal, MD, the panel moderator. SOURCE:HIVPLUSMAG.COM