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Analysts: Truvada is the beginning of a new era in the fight against AIDS
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
A panel of American health experts has approved for the first time the use of a drug to prevent HIV infection.
Doctors have recommended that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve the daily use of Truvada for people at risk for HIV/AIDS.
The FDA is not legally required to listen to the recommendations of the expert panel, but it generally follows its advice.
Analysts talk about the beginning of a new era in the fight against AIDS.
The FDA has previously approved Truvada for use in combination treatment for people infected with HIV, and it is prescribed alongside existing antiretroviral drugs.
A 2011 study found that the drug, manufactured by California-based Gilead Sciences, significantly reduced the risk of HIV infection among gay men, as well as healthy heterosexual partners of infected people, by 44-73%. A cure or an indulgence?
Experts from the Antiviral Drug Applications Council (ADAC), which advises the FDA on the use of new drugs, have decided to recommend Truvada for people in the highest-risk category - men who do not have HIV and who have multiple sexual partners.
19 ADAC council members voted in favor of this decision, while three voted against it.
The ADAC council also voted by majority to recommend the use of Truvada to healthy partners of people who are immunocompromised, as well as to people in other risk categories who may become infected with HIV through sexual contact.
The vote was preceded by an 11-hour review and lengthy public debate.
Some doctors have expressed concern that the new drug could encourage people to engage in riskier sexual behavior or lead to the development of a drug-resistant strain of the virus.
However, the overwhelming majority of experts welcomed the council's decision.
A meeting of FDA members on these issues is scheduled for June 15.
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