Truvada is "not a miracle drug", but "an extra weapon" against HIV

"The best way to protect oneself from HIV today remains the condom, for men and women, and whatever the age" recalls on franceinfo Marina Karmochkine, HIV specialist at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital, Tuesday, July 24. This immunologist is speaking while a study published Tuesday shows that PrEP (a previous treatment of badual risk) is effective in combating contaminations. She prefers to qualify this good news: Truvada is "not a miracle drug" against HIV, but rather "an additional weapon in prevention strategies" did it is indicated.

franceinfo: Truvada is it a miracle drug?

Marina Karmochkine : Clearly, it is not a miracle drug, there is no miracle in matter of HIV. It's an extra weapon in prevention strategies. Today, with regard to HIV, we are talking about combined prevention. It means we have several tools at our disposal. The first prevention tool is screening. When one knows that one is HIV-positive and one is being treated, one is no longer transmitting HIV. The second tool, which remains completely underutilized, is the condom. On the occasion of the world congress on AIDS [la 22ème édition du congrès s’est ouverte ce lundi à Amsterdam] it should be remembered that the best way to protect yourself from HIV today, it remains the condom, for men and women and regardless of age. 19659003] However, this drug or its generics have, according to the results of the study revealed Tuesday, been 100% effective over one year in Paris …

It is true that someone who has bad at risk and who is on treatment with Truvada at risk of contracting HIV is extremely reduced or even canceled. If you take it well, because you have also shown that in the long run, there are a lot of people who do not take it well, because it is very restrictive, there is a medical, biological surveillance. There are people, men or women, who stop taking it, as they had abandoned the condom, they are contaminated at that time. It is an effective therapeutic weapon but is really part of this combined prevention. People who benefit from PrEP programs [prophylaxie préexposition, type de traitement dont relève le Truvada] in France, especially public badistance, have HIV and all STIs [infections baduellement transmissibles] every three months. (…) The goal is still to try to talk about the condom because today, in the community of homobadual men, globally, there is more condom. That's why we're in the middle of the road: if we continue to no longer use condoms, the number of new STIs and new cases of HIV infection will increase, that there is PrEP or there is no PrEP.

Are there any side effects?

This treatment, which is quite powerful, requires monitoring. We are HIV-negative and we come to see a doctor every three months, we do blood tests and screenings of different badual infections. The treatment may have some side effects, such as kidney fatigue and bone demineralization. This is not trivial. But it's interesting to know that we have an extra weapon. (…) The drug is reimbursed in France, it is supported by the community, it costs about 180 euros per month and it is proven that it is an effective cost. That is, if we really reduce the number of HIV-positive people, it's cheaper for society to pay for PrEP than to pay for HIV treatment for life.