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An antiviral pill taken daily by thousands of men in Sydney and in other parts of Australia has resulted in an unprecedented reduction in new HIV cases worldwide, showing that an targeted preventive approach could accelerate the fight against the AIDS epidemic.
According to the world's first study to measure the impact of Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Truvada pill on reducing the AIDS-causing virus in a large population, the number of HIV cases among men homosexuals and bisexuals dropped by almost a third. . The findings, published Thursday in the Lancet HIV medical journal, could pave the way for other states and countries to end the transmission of the virus through the use of a treatment called pre-emptive prophylaxis. exposure or PrEP.
"The speed with which we are seeing new HIV infections among homosexual and bisexual men is a world first," said Andrew Grulich, head of the study and head of HIV epidemiology and prevention at Kirby Institute of HIV. University of New South Wales. "These numbers are the lowest ever since the beginning of HIV surveillance in 1985".
Progress in the fight against AIDS over the last 15 years has prompted UN Member States to commit to ending the epidemic by 2030.
The number of people newly infected with HIV fell to 1.8 million worldwide in 2017, compared with more than 3 million per year during most of the 1990s. Although the results of the study can not be generalized to indicate similar efficacy in heterosexual populations, they demonstrate that PrEP is "very cost effective" in some high-risk groups, Grulich said in a phone interview.
New HIV infections occurred among 102 gay and bisexual men in the state of New South Wales during the first year following the start of the study, compared with 149 for the previous 12 months.
"Although we have known for at least three or four years the effectiveness of PrEP at the individual level, there has been some reluctance in policymakers around the world to appropriately finance PrEP deployment because the impact on the population has not been demonstrated. – and that's what we decided to do, "Grulich said.
In the United States, approximately 180,000 people were taking Truvada for PrEP at the end of June, Gilead Chief Financial Officer Robin L. Washington told a conference call in July.
The oval-shaped blue pill is a fixed-dose combination of tenofovir, disoproxil and emtricitabine. Generic versions of Truvada manufactured by Mylan NV, Cipla Ltd. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. have made the drug available at a cheaper price.
"We are seeing Truvada's steady growth in the use of PrEP," Gilead Chief Executive John F. Milligan told the Morgan Stanley Global Health Care conference last month. The regions of the United States where PrEP consumption is highest have recorded one of the best reductions in the number of HIV infections, he said.
"I am more confident now that policy makers are very innovative in thinking about how to improve access to PrEP," said Milligan. "So we will be working on a number of things over the next year that could really increase the number of PrEP patients and could be very helpful in preventing infection, and of course for our company as well.
-Bloomberg
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