FDA approves first pill to help prevent HIV

AP -- Jul 16, 2:18 PM EDT

FDA approves first pill to help prevent HIV

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the first drug shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection, a milestone in the 30-year battle against the virus that causes AIDS.

The agency approved Gilead Sciences' pill Truvada as a preventive measure for people who are at high risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity, such as those who have HIV-infected partners....[story continues]

This apparently finished the trials a few months ago.

Maybe some progress has been made on this devastating problem.

Many people are unaware they are even carriers -- estimated 240,000 !!

Please get a checkup !!

So Gilead Sciences beat the Gates Foundation in bringing to market a preventative HIV pill...Bill and Melinda must be pissed that they can't cash in at $14,000 a year per person globally!

Yeah, we've had it up here for awhile. Not so much of a "can prevent HIV" thing, but under certain circumstances, can significantly reduce the chances of contracting the virus. We have long had PEP in hospitals for nurses with needle-stick injuries, but it has to be done ASAP after the contact. It's a matter of killing off the virus before it gets trapped in the lymphatic system, where it can duplicate and perpetually put out new virus from a protected environment. The biggest thing to consider is the viral load of the HIV positive individual. If they have a high viral load, they are extremely infectious, increasing the odds of infection, even with PEP. However, any way your looking at it, it's not preventative. It's post exposure prophylaxis. Your seeking out the virus after it enters the body.

Abstinence would come close to eradicating it within a single generation. Imagine that--chose one partner for life and you'd cure the vast majority of all STD's in the world.

Because the mode of transmission for HIV does include unorthodox and accidental means or virulancy--yes, people could still get it. But, the number would be so few, that it'd be nearly wiped out.