between 1,666 and 4,000 people infected with the virus could have been treated preventively

According to a report of the Inspectorate General Social Affairs (Igas) dated June 2018, between 1,666 and 4,000 people could have been treated preventively against HIV with a new drug, Truvada, if the Drug Agency had authorized its marketing, reports Monday July 9 France Inter. Truvada is a drug that prevents the contamination of an HIV-negative person through risky bad.

In the conclusions of his report, Igas speaks of "striking slowness, in the case of infection by HIV, the re-appropriation of this concept by the scientific and medical community. " Still according to the report, the National Agency for Drug Safety (Ansm) – which allowed the use of Truvada in 2016, making from France the first European country to authorize this drug – was seized from 2013 by the badociation Aides. The HIV badociation was demanding the use of Truvada. But the agency, unaccustomed to considering a request for early access for prevention, did not react immediately. For a year, the demand remained a dead letter before a commission was appointed.

Bruno Spire was, at the time, president of Aides. He told France Inter that he had trouble speeding up the process: "Few people were convinced by the interest of this new approach to pre-exposure treatment for which we already had data that were favorable. that we made early access to this molecule in prevention dragged on, there was slowness. " According to him, the administration and many members of the medical profession " have a responsibility in the fact that people were infected during this period when they could have benefited from early access as was the case in the United States. "

Regarding the number of people infected while they could have been treated preventively, the report is based on figures used by the Directorate General of Health (DGS): "It should be emphasized that the number of contaminations avoided would be potentially 1,000 to 2,400 a year. " Further reading: " Assuming this badumption of the DGS and projection over a period of 20 months, the number of contamination resulting from the accumulated delay by the instruction of RTU Truvada is between 1,666 and 4,000. "

Today, about 7,000 people in France use Truvada as a preventive medicine. Since 2016, treatment is covered by health insurance. The badociation Aides has just launched a campaign on the theme: one tablet a day protects you from HIV