Truvada Is Working, But Users Show Spike in STDs

Truvada, the prescription drug used to prevent HIV transmission, is said to be working, according to a report in the SF Gate.

The drug, which is part of a PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) regimen, is taken once a day in pill form. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): "The pill (brand name Truvada) contains two medicines (tenofovir and emtricitabine) that are used in combination with other medicines to treat HIV. When someone is exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use, these medicines can work to keep the virus from establishing a permanent infection."

"In the first real-world study of the prescription drug," the SF Gate report states, "Kaiser researchers found no new HIV infections among the more than 650 people they followed over nearly three years, beginning just after the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012."

What the study revealed, though, was an increase in non-safe sex amongst participants and a spiking in STD transmissions.

"In the new study, participants were sexually active. Many did not use condoms for prevention, and half of them were diagnosed with other sexually transmitted diseases within a year of starting the study. But no new HIV infections turned up, researchers said.

"'This is really compelling data that shows that PrEP works in a real-world setting,' said Dr. Jonathan Volk, a San Francisco Kaiser physician and epidemiologist and lead author of the study, which was published Wednesday in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases," the SF Gate reports.