Today, all of us in the HIV prevention field have woken up to heartening news: two large PrEP studies have shown that taking antiretrovirals (ARVs) can reduce the risk of HIV infection through sexual intercourse by 62-73% among heterosexual couples. This news comes close on the heels of the encouraging results from
the IPrEX trial, which showed that ARVs could provide protection against HIV among gay men.
The Partners study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, took place in Kenya and Uganda. It was stopped a year and a half early because of the highly significant results. Unlike
the earlier FEM-PrEP trial, adherence in this case was extremely high: more than 97% of doses dispensed were taken, and 95% of participants stayed in the study.
The TDF2 study, conducted in Botswana, concluded as planned.
The results of both these PrEP studies are being called “fundamentally important for HIV prevention” and provide added impetus to the ongoing discussion about ensuring the widespread availability of affordable ARV drugs in developing countries.
To know more, check out Reuters’ coverage of the studies
here or The Washington Post’s story
here. For more details, read the article on
The University of Washington website as well as
the CDC website.
[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position.]
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