Tony Y.
Posting #4
Topic: Health
Title of Article: Panel Recommends Approving Truvada to Prevent HIV Infection
Author: Saundra Young
Publication Name: CNN
Date of Publication: May 10, 2012
Length of Article: 787 words
The U.S. FDA advisory committee recommended on Thursday to approve the HIV medicine Truvada in a 19-2 vote. Truvada, a pill made by Gilead Sciences, Inc, is used to prevent HIV from replicating within the body and is often given to patients with HIV. Now, scientists have noticed that the drug can also be used by people who are at high risk of getting infected by HIV to prevent possible illness. Scientists call this prevention method PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis. Many studies have shown that Truvada can have great benefits in HIV prevention. Infection rates were reduced by 63% in a study done by the Center for Disease control and Prevention in Botswana. In a study done by the University of Washington, they saw a 62% reduction in infection rates with patients in Kenya using Truvada. When used with another HIV drug, Tenofovir, Truvada reduced infection rates by 73%. However, Truvada can also have side effects such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, loss of appetite, diarrhea, liver and kidney toxicity, and loss of bone density. Still, the probability and severity of side effects were determined to be safe enough for Truvada to be used.
Many scientists are extremely pleased with the results of the studies done on Truvada. Still, some are skeptical about the possible consequences of approving Truvada as a PrEP medicine due the possible popular conception that Truvada will prevent all HIV infections, when in fact it only reduces infection percentage by a certain amount. Truvada is also an expensive drug, which costs $1200 a month. However, the possible effects of Truvada being used as a HIV prevention drug could be enormous. It provides people at risk of HIV infection with another good option to prevent contracting the deadly disease, and along with the usage of other HIV prevention techniques, could greatly reduce the amount of HIV infections worldwide.
Truvada, an HIV medicine, is discovered to also be useful at preventing possible HIV infection. The prevention method is called PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis. It is proven in the study that infection rates reduced by 63% with the Truvada. However, there are side effects to the drug, such as nausea,dizziness, loss of appetite, and loss of bone density. The drug is also very expensive - it costs $1200 a month. Nevertheless, FDA highly values the drug, and the committee recommended to approve it in a 19-2 vote.
ReplyDeleteEven though Truvada is expensive (at $1200 per month), it is believed that it will play a large role in future HIV prevention. In a study in Botswana, the infection rate of HIV was reduced by 63% and when combined with another anti-HIV drug, Tenofovir, the rate of infection was reduced by 73%. This drug will not be able to completely eliminate the disease, but if widely used, it will be able to cut the infection rate by more than half. The U.S. FDA has recently recommended the usage of this drug in a 19-2 vote. Some of the side effects of Truvada are nausea, vomiting, dizziness, loss of appetite, diarrhea, liver and kidney toxicity, and loss of bone density, but despite these ailments, Truvada has been deemed safe enough for public use. The benefits far outweigh the possible side effects and Truvada has the potential to save many lives from this crippling epidemic.
ReplyDeleteA possible prevention for HIV has been found by scientists at Gilead Sciences called Truvada. This drug prevents HIV by stopping the HIV virus from replicating in the body and spreading to infect more cells. The drug has proven to be effective, with 63% lower infection rates among people at risk of HIV in Botswana and 62% in Kenya. However, there are potentially serious side effects associated with Truvada, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of bone density. This means that great care will have to be observed when administering this drug to people, to make sure that the benefits outweigh the side effects. The invention of this drug is a big breakthrough in the battle against one of the world's most deadly viruses, HIV.
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